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PREHISTORIC RELICS 



AN ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE DESCRIBING 
SOME EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY 
DIFFERENT SPECIMENS 



Compiled from the Standard Authorities in 
Archaeology. One Hundred and Forty-six Figures 



BY MAIL, POST-PAID, ONE DOLLAR 



Published by 
THE ANDOVER PRESS 

Andover, Mass. 



Table of Contents 



Chapter 
I. 


The Collecting and Arranging of Specimens. 


Page 

c 

o 


II. 


Division of Implements. 


9 


III. 


Large Chipped Implements. 


16 


IV. 


Division III. Stemmed. .... 


u 


V. 


Peculiar Forms and Drills 


31 


VI. 


Flint Knives. . . . . 


41 


VII. 


Manufacture of Flint Implements. 


45 


VIII. 


Grooved Stone Axes 


49 


IX. 


Polished Stone Hatchets, or Celts. 


62 


X. 


Pestles, Mortars, Mauls and Hammers. 


69 


XI. 


Slate Ornaments and Ceremonials. 


78 


XII. 


Ceremonials ; continued. . . . - 


84 


XIII. 


Shell and Bone Ornaments and Implements. 


Q2 


XIV. 


Bicaves and Plummets. .... 


IOI 


XV. 


Pipes 


I IO 


XVI. 


Pottery. . . . . 


I2 5 


XVII. 


Hematites and Copper. .... 


136 


XVIII. 


Unclassified and Unique Forms. . . • . 


149 



c « 



Preface 



Nearly all of the 7500 collectors of archaeological speci- 
mens have at some time or other wished for an inexpensive, 
and yet complete, illustrated catalogue. Books we have had in 
numbers, but they are all expensive, or they cover explorations 
only. Therefore, there are objections to most of them. 

Recognizing the call for a collector's book — one that 
should be for laymen and not for experts — we have compiled 
the present book, Prehistoric Relics. It will be observed that 
we have quoted largely from standard authorities. In foot- 
notes we have referred to more than one hundred books, 
pamphlets and articles upon archaeologic subjects ; and 
students, therefore, will have no trouble in pursuing further 
reading. 

Prehistoric Relics is prepared solely for collectors and 
beginners in Archaeology. It is not intended for museums 
or professionals. 

The Andover Press, 

Andover, Mass. 

April 20th, 1905. 



Chapter I 



The Collecting and Arranging of Specimens 

It has been truthfully said that of all the sciences there is not 
one which appeals to the popular mind, or is of greater interest to 
the general public than Archaeology. An individual may dabble in 
it to the extent of making a collection for his own amusement ; he 
may take the various publications, visit the museums, join the 
societies and thus become more or less of a scientific archaeologist ; 
he is beset by no intricate nomenclature, he is not compelled to 
follow in certain prescribed channels. So it is that there are up- 
wards of ten thousand persons engaged in this fascinating study. 

The layman can best become interested in the ancient Ameri- 
cans by making a collection of their peculiar relics. If he lives in 
the city, he labors under more difficulties than his fellow collector of 
the village. He must resort to purchase or he may indulge in the 
pleasure of excursions to localities where specimens are to be found. 
He may experience more trouble and is certainly at greater expense 
than his rural contemporary, but in the end he may possess a better 
exhibit, for the city man, as a rule, has more means at his disposal. 

Let us outline for instance, what a man living in a small town 
may do. Suppose he can spare two half-days per week during the 
collecting season — April to November. He must first collect from 
his own neighborhood. If he has had no experience he would do 
well to read current archaeologic literature. From farmers and 
storekeepers he can ascertain who has a collection and if it is for 
sale, or upon what fields there were village sites. His leisure hours 
would be profitably spent in walking over these camp or village sites. 



6 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



By the quantity of broken stone, and its extent, pottery, flint chip- 
pings, etc., he would know the large or small sites. He would learn 
to search after a heavy rain — especially when rain fell upon freshly 
plowed fields. Rough and rude types would constitute the main 
portion of his finds ; yet of great value to himself because they were 
personal finds. 

The man who purchases all his specimens, and who collects 
solely for the pleasure he derives in possessing beautiful implements, 
has a valuable cabinet in that its contents represent the highest art 
attained by aborigines. But such a collection is not of real archaeo- 
logic value. It should contain all the types whether of fine or poor 
workmanship. In such an assortment the student will take more 
satisfaction and, moreover, he cannot be classed as a " crank " 
simply gathering unique and unheard of types without regard to their 
real meaning, age or genuineness. 

Display of Specimens 

As to a cabinet. A spool case, or one or two shelves in a book 
case will do for the first few months. When the collection becomes 
crowded in its space a special cabinet is necessary. The only dif- 
ference between the average book case and a case fit for the display 
of archaeologic material lies in this : the shelf supports should be 
stronger, the shelves nearer together (say six to seven inches) and 
slanting slightly towards the front. Heavy objects should be placed 
on the lower shelf, tall ones and pottery at the top and the small or 
flat specimens on the middle shelves. The relics should be labeled 
or numbered and entered in a book catalogue. Canton flannel (or 
thin cotton strips) is sufficiently rough to prevent ornaments, flint 
implements or other small artifacts from slipping. They can be 
placed in rows, circles or other artistic groups according to the fancy 
of the collector. When not sewed on cardboard the specimens may 
be more conveniently handled ; but there is some danger of breakage. 
Light objects on a dark background, or dark objects on a light back- 
ground will bring out the details of workmanship into strong relief. 
Whole pottery should be arranged on top (outside) and protected by 
three or four wires strung along in front. The finer, or more delicate 
whole pottery may be placed on one of the shelves. 



FIG. I. TYPICAL COLLECTION. S. ABOUT 1-8 OR 



8 PREHISTORIC RELICS 

Number light specimens with India ink ; dark ones, with white 
paint. Record in a book the numbers, locality, etc. Large un- 
sightly labels deface specimens and are an abomination. All scien- 
tific museums paint numbers on the specimens and record the same 
in books, or keep a card index. On large specimens the site may 
properly be painted or inked as : 

14-17 

PIKE CO., 
I LLS. 

But small objects look better if only numbered. 

A collector who wishes to be well informed, or to become a stu- 
dent in the full sense of the word, should read such as he can pro- 
cure of the works and reports mentioned at the end of this book. 
If one has time to carefully peruse even a few of them he will store 
his mind with a great deal of reliable and useful information. 

In Figure I a typical collection comprising several hundred 
specimens is shown.* There are several thousand collections just 
about like this one, in the United States. 

Many of the relics are good, but they do not appear to advan- 
tage because they are not as well mounted as might be. If the vari- 
ous types were grouped together the effect would be heightened. 
Most collectors fall into the same error and put specimens into their 
cabinets without regard to any fixed plan. It is just as easy to make 
a neat and attractive arrangement. Readers will do well to remem- 
ber this suggestion. 



*In each description of an illustration " S " refers to size. Thus S. 1-3 means 
scale (or size) one-third of the original. 



Chapter II 



Division of Implements 

There are many schemes of classification of ancient relics pro- 
posed by the several authorities. We shall combine these various 
groupings into one. 

Specimens may be separated into two great divisions. 
First, The Known. 
Second, The Unknown. 

As the intelligent reader will observe, the Known class em- 
braces those objects which are familiar to us. That is, of certain 
implements, ornaments, etc., we can say positively that primitive 
man made and used them for such and such definite purposes. Be- 
cause we cannot determine for what purpose the others were used, 
they must be grouped under the " Unknown " heading. 

Several ethnologists suggest a classification on yet different 
lines, using the occupations as a basis. For instance : 

" The Man " ; Warfare, hunting and fishing, Ceremonial, re- 
ligious and secret orders, etc. 

" The Woman " ; Domestic and agricultural, Carrying industry, 

etc. 

" Both Sexes " ; Clothing and personal adornment, Ceremonial, 
Religious, etc. 

But we need not follow this scheme in its details as it embodies 
more ethnology than archaeology, and we are to study the latter 
rather than the former. 

All the objects whether Known or Unknown fall under the fol- 
lowing further classifications. 

Chipped objects — such as arrow and spear heads. 

Polished objects — such as slate ornaments. 

Ground or pecked objects — such as axes or celts — and these 
often are polished. 

Moulded objects — such as pottery. 

Carved objects — such as bone and shell effigies. 

Hammered objects — such as copper implements. 



IO 



PREHISTORIC REIICS 



When one reaches the subdivisions, under the above heads, one 
is beset by difficulties. It is easy to separate implements, etc., ac- 
cording to the broader divisions, but as one form or type graduates 
into another, it is hard to say with assurance just where one type 
ends and another begins. 

Chipped objects may be divided into three general classes. 

1. For Agricultural Purposes, Chopping, Etc. 

2. For Ceremonial, or Unknown Uses. Partly Fin- 
ished Material, Etc. 

3. Projectiles, Cutting and Scraping, Drilling, Orna- 
ments. 

A comprehensive and practical classification of chipped imple- 
ments has been attempted by the late Dr. Thomas Wilson, curator of 
the archaeological section of the U. S. National Museum at Wash- 
ington, D. C. The specimens in that collection he divides into four 
grand divisions according to forms already well known and sepa- 
rated. * We reproduce his article in full. Each one of these 
primary divisions is classified into a number of subdivisions which 
are here shown. 

Division 1, leaf-shaped. In this classification the leaf-shaped is 
placed at the head as being the oldest implement of its kind. This 
division includes all kinds : elliptical, oval, oblong, or lanceolate 
forms bearing any relation to the shape of a leaf, and without stem, 
shoulder or barb. Class A, is pointed at both ends. The widest 
place one third, or one fourth from the base. 




class a. fig. 2. 



* Arrow-points, Spear-heads, and Knives of Prehistoric Times, Annual Rep. 
of the Smithsonian Institution, U. S. National Museum, 1897. 



DIVISION OF IMPLEMENTS 




CLASS B. FIG. 3. 



Class B, is more oval, less pointed and with base concave, 
straight, or convex. 




class c. fig. 4. 



Class C, is long and narrow, with sharp points, parallel edges, 
and the bases are concave, straight, or convex. These belong to 
the Pacific coast. 

DIVISION 11 

Division II, triangular. This division includes all specimens 
which, according to geometrical nomenclature, are in the form of a 
triangle ; whether the bases or edges be convex, straight or concave. 
They are without stems and consequently without shoulders, though 
in some specimens the extreme concavity of the base produces barbs 
when the arrow shaft is attached. 




fig. 5. 



12 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



DIVISION III 

Division III, stemmed. This division includes all varieties of 
stems, whether straight, pointed, or expanding, round or flat, except 
those with certain peculiarities and included in Division IV ; and 
whether the bases or edges are convex, straight or concave. 

Class A is lozenge-shaped, not shouldered or barbed. 




CLASS a. fig. 6. 



Class B, is shouldered, but not barbed. 




CLASS B. FIG. 7- 



Class C, is shouldered and barbed. These Mr. Wilson says, 
" cover the commoner forms of arrow-points and spear-heads through- 
out the world. Certain other forms, few in number, or restricted in 
locality, and scarcely entitled to divisions by themselves, are never- 
theless found in sufficient numbers and with such definite character- 
istics that they cannot be ignored." These he has placed in a 
general class under the head of " peculiar forms." 




class c. fig. 8. 



DIVISION OF IMPLEMENTS 13 

DIVISION IV PECULIAR FORMS 

Class A, beveled edges. 




CLASS A. FIG. y. 

Class B, serrated edges. 




CLASS B. FIG. IO. 

Class C, bifurcuted stems. 




CLASS C. FIG. IT. 



Class D, long barbs, square at ends. Peculiar to England, Ire- 
land, and found in Georgia, in the United States. " Our interest in 




CLASS d. fig. 12. 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




this class," says Dr. Wilson in his admirable work, " arises from the 
fact that, while they are confined to restricted localities in Europe as 
mentioned, they should have appeared in America in an equally 
circumscribed area, namely, the state of Georgia." An excellent 
specimen similar to the second shown in Class D, with a straight 
stem is shown by Sir John Evans as Fig. 318.* It was found in a 
sepulchral mound at Rudstone, England, in front of the face of an 
unburnt body. The base of the barbs which are as long as its 
stem are chipped almost straight forming a sharp point on the 
inner side of the barb. In Europe they are assigned by archaeolo- 
gists to the first epoch of the Bronze period. 

Peculiar to the province of Chiriqui, Panama. 
These are thin and narrow rude flakes struck 
from nuclei and left nearly in their original 
condition except that a rude stem has been 
chipped, and where necessary they have been 
brought to a point, as the material from which 

they are made is hard and refractory. The 
class e. fig. 13. . _ . . 

workmanship is rude. 

Broadest at cutting end and chisel-shaped. They are thin, 

almost flake-like in appearance, not made pointed, nor are the edges 

worked down by secondary chipping. The cutting edge is at the 

front, at the broadest end, and, thus propelled, will 

Ih k I make a wound wide and deep. It is a question 

\ IT 1\ whether these small flint objects were really the 

j \\ points of arrows. Several of them found in France 

hi £ an< ^ other parts of Europe were fastened in short 

handles, and may have served as knives. A cache 
class f. fig. 14. . . \ . . , , 

containing several thousand specimens was tound. 

and is now on exhibition in the Museum of Antiquities at Copen- 
hagen, Denmark. They may have served for different purposes, 
just as our varied flaked tools did in this country. 

Polished slate points are peculiar to the Eskimo country, to New 
England and New York. Mr. Willoughby, of the Peabody Museum, 
found some long, polished slate blades, eight or more inches in 
length, in ancient graves in Maine. 

*Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain p. 343. 



DIVISION OF IMPLEMENTS 



15 




FIG. 15. SLATE POINTS. 



From the collection of the University of Vermont, a, d, e, red 
slate, b, drab talcose slate, c, f, grey roofing slate, c, d, and e, 
S. 1-2. b, f, S. 1-3. 



Chapter III 



Large Chipped Implements used for Agricultural and Domestic Purposes 

DIVISION I ; CLASSES A, B, AND C. 

Collectors have more flint implements than anything else. 
Moreover, such objects are greatly sought and seem to be highly 
prized. It is fitting, therefore, that we devote more space in this 
book to the varied forms of large and small chipped artifacts than to 
other types of implements or ornaments. 

The chipped spades, hoes and flint celts are numerous through- 
out that part of the Mississippi valley lying between the Wabash 
river in Indiana and central Kansas and extending south almost to 
the Gulf. For agricultural and domestic purposes other implements 
were used in the East, notably the mussel shell and wooden hoe and 
the rude notched stone hoe. Barring here and there a "stray" for 
which it is difficult to account, the large flint implements are confined 
to the area mentioned. 




fig. 1 6. 

flint spades and a hoe. missouri, 
hist. socy. collection. s. i-5. 



AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC IMPLEMENTS 17 



Many of these are illustrated and described in that excellent 
work written by Gen. G. P. Thruston entitled, " The Antiquities of 
Tennessee." In Figure 16 we show two typical spades and a hoe. 
No. j is the oval or common form. No. 2, that type having a broad 
edge and tapering to a narrow top. These objects range from seven 
or eight inches to as much as twenty inches in length. Some of 
them are thick and clumsy while othere are thin and delicate. Over 
half of them show polish on the edges and this is due to long con- 
tinued use in preparing the soil for the planting of corn, beans, etc. 
No. 3 is a notched hoe, somewhat rarer than the spade. Fig. 18 
shows an agricultural implement from Pennsylvania. It may be 
taken as typical of the eastern forms. Manifestly, many of the 
rudest chipped objects, especially those that are rather thick, may 
have been spades and hoes and to classify them all as unfinished ob- 
jects might be an error. 




FIG. 17. FROM THE BECKWITH COLLECTION, SOUTH-WEST MO. 



These spades and hoes are exceedingly well made. All the 
types are shown ; notched and unnotched hoes, oval spade, triangular 
spade, and fancy spade. S. about 1-13. 



iS 



PREHISTORIC REIICS 




FIG. l8. NORTHAMPTON. PA. MATERIAL, JASPER. S. 1-2 

Akin to the riint hoe is the flint celt shown in Fig. 19. A line 
of demarcation where the celt ends and the hoe or spade begins 
cannot be drawn with certainty. The flint celt in the South and the 
West took the place of the stone celt in the East ; and as the stone 
celt in the East may have been used as a hand hatchet, as a toma- 
hawk, as a digging tool, to hollow out dugouts, and for multitudinous 
other purposes, so the flint celt of the Mississippi valley served a 
similar purpose. Fig. 19 shows a typical celt polished at its lower 



AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC IMPLEMENTS 19 



edge and bearing traces of long continued use. A small percentage 
of celts are well made, for the major part of them are rough and 




FIG. 19. FLINT CELT, ALEXANDER CO., ILLS. S. 1-2. 

rude affairs and frequently we cannot tell whether the object is to be 
classed as a flint celt or should fall under the category of "turtle- 
back " or unfinished object. 

Some of the spades and hoes and polished celts are so finely 
wrought that one may doubt whether they were used for menial pur- 
poses. In Tennessee not a few large flint implements have been 
found and they are so delicately wrought that Gen. Thruston and 
other observers have classed them among the ceremonials rather 
than as implements. Notable among these are upwards of forty 
flint swords and sickle shaped objects of remarkable size and beauty. 
These were found in a grave not far from Nashville and are now pre- 



20 PREHISTORIC RELICS 

served in .the Missouri Historical Society collection at St. Louis. 
Such objects may have been made by a most skilful worker in flint 
simply to show what he could do. In stone age times they per- 
haps represented the height of the art of chipping flint. 




FIG. 20. S. ABOUT I-3. 



Large flint implements from Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio. 
Probably these are rather ceremonial than for use as common 
knives and spear heads. The longest one is over ten inches in length. 

In Fig. 21 we illustrate some of the large, well-chipped obsidian 
blades found along the Pacific Coast. Blades, swords, ceremonials, 
or whatever they are. have been found from time to time. They 
range from ten to twenty-five inches in length. Magnificent speci- 
mens of these are in the Smithsonian, American, and Peabody 
Museum collections. 




FIG. 21. LARGE OBSIDIAN " KNIVES ". J. A. HARRIS COLLECTION. 
SIZE ABOUT 1-6. 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



Another kind of a large implement is the leaf-shaped. These 
are shown in Fig. 22. Usually they are finely wrought ; thin and 
sharp. They aie of such form that they could be notched and made 
into spears, or used in their present condition as knives. Often ar- 
chaeologists find them in caches or deposits — as if buried by some 
prehistoric merchant. Evidently they represented an article of com- 
merce. Sometimes as many as two or three hundred leaf-shaped 
implements have been found in a single cache. At the Hopewell 
Group in Ohio, 7232 were dug out of one mound. 




fig. 22. 



Some leaf-shaped implements from a cache in Michigan. Size 
about 1-6. 

Classes A and B are chiefly confined to knives, blades, etc. 
Fig. 22 illustrates this group. Class C embraces knives and also 
lance-heads, or unbarbed spear-heads. 

In Division II are to be included many blunt and thick points. 



AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC IMPLEMENTS 23 



Usually, these are in the more refractory materials such as argillite, 
quartz and pebble-chert. But, of course rude and crude objects are 
to be found in any class of relics. The finest war points come from 
the Columbia River Valley and Pacific Coast. However, very nice 
ones are to be obtained in the Western Ohio Valley, in Arkansas and 
in New York State. 

The triangular points could have easily been notched and made 
into ordinary arrow-heads. Doubtless many were so treated. It 
was easy for the aborigine to change a simple object into a more 
complicated form and that he did so, we have abundant evidence. 

As to the power of penetration of arrows, and the strength of 
bows Mr. A. F. Berlin, in "Prehistoric Implements" (P. i93)quotes 
several observers : 

" The traveller Carver was told by the Winnebago Indians, who 
then lived in what is now the state of Wisconsin, that they sometimes 
made war-excursions to the south-western parts, — then Spanish pos- 
sessions, — and that it required months to arrive there.* The Indian 
propelled his arrow-tipped shaft with wonderful force and exactness. 
So strong were these Red people, and so dexterous in the manipula- 
tion of their bows, which were as thick as a man's arm, about eleven 
or twelve spans in length that they could project their arrows a dis- 
tance of two hundred paces. 

" The Spaniards under the adventurer De Soto experienced this 
to their sorrow while arrayed in battle against them. Their armor 
was pierced by these small points and many of them were wounded 
and killed, the arrows passing completely through their bodies. At 
the battle of Manilla two hundred Spaniards were killed ; of the re- 
maining living one hundred and fifty received seven hundred wounds. 
Cabeca de Vaca, a Spanish writer, who accompanied this unfortunate 
expedition tells us that he saw the butt of an elm tree which had 
been penetrated by an arrow the depth of a span. 

" Among other instances he mentions that of an arrow shot by an 
Indian which pierced through the saddle and housings and pene- 
trated one-third of its length into the body of a Spaniard's horse. 

" So proficient in archery, says Clavigero in his History of 
Mexico, were the Aztecs at the time of the invasion by the Spanish 
adventurer Cortez, that it was usual for a number of archers to as- 
* Carver. Travels, etc., Harper's Reprint, New York 1838, p. 42. 



24 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



semble and throw up an ear of maize into the air, at which they 
immediately shot with such quickness and dexterity, that before it 
could reach the ground it was stripped of every grain.* 

" The chevalier Tonti. who travelled in the now western part of 
the United States two hundred years ago, alluding to the force with 
which the aborigines projected their arrows says : ' That which is won- 
derful in this, is the havoc which the shot sent by the savages 
makes ; for, besides the exactness and swiftness of the stroke, the force 
of it is very surprising, and so much the rarer, because it is 
nothing else but a stone, or a bone, 'or sometimes a piece of very 
hard wood pointed and fastened to the end of an arrow with some 
fishes-glue, that causes this terrible effect.' " 



*Life of Hernando Cortez, Arthur Helps, Vol. i, foot-note, p. 76. 



Chapter IV 



DIVISION III. STEMMED. 




Here we have a wide range, from the lozenge- 
shape to the deeply barbed and specialized forms. 

In order to make clear to collectors, who may 
become confused by the nomenclature employed in 
describing different parts of an arrow or spear head, 
the following plan prepared by Mr. Gerard Fowke 
will be of value.* 



FIG. 23. LOZENGE- 
SHAPED IMPLEMENT 
S. I-I. 



* Bureau of American Ethnology Report, '91-2. P. 143. 




FIG. 24. S. I-I. 



t The section below shows this more plainly. 



26 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




FIG. 25. MICHIGAN. S. I-I 

The variations of these types are many. In Figure 25 we have 
a leaf-shaped object which has been notched and made into a spear. 
It was found in the Saginaw valley by Prof. Harlan I. Smith, and 
illustrates how that the simple process of cutting notches "may 
change the character of the implement. Figure 25 stands for the 
merging of Class A into B. 



SPEAR AND ARROW-HEADS 



27 




Fig. 26 is a peculiar lance or spear-head having a very long 
stem. Stemmed points are quite common, but it is seldom that the 
stem is so long as in this. It is an open question 
as to whether such a form as this was a lance-head 
or knife. 

Gray flint, Blue Grass, Iowa. S. 1-1. 
Figure 27 is a shouldered spear-head. It 
might be well to remark here that there is a 
diversity of opinion as to where arrow-heads end 
and spear-heads begin. We are of the opinion that 
an implement more than one and three-quarters 
inches in length might be classed as a spear-head. 
That is, a shouldered or 
barbed, or lance-like imple- 
ment which was, manifestly, 
not a knife. But a slender 
and thin point of two or two 
and a half inches in length 
might be used to tip an 
arrow. The weight, thick- 
ness, etc., makes a great difference. A heavy 
point was much more convenient as a spear- 
head ; a light point, as an arrow-head, as 
any who has practiced archery well knows. 
An archaeologist experimented with one of 
the heavy Yew bows which were common in 
England and this country some twenty-five 
years ago when archery was popular. The 
bow pulled about 60 pounds, and the greatest 
range was something over five hundred feet- 
The weight of the arrow-head made a great 
difference in the force, trajectory, range, and 
all other points observed. Therefore, in 
establishing a line of demarcation between arrow-points and spear- 
heads, it is not so much the length but the size, thickness, etc., of 
the implement which is to be taken into consideration. 





fig. 27. s. i-r. 

SCOTT CO., IOWA. 



28 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




A broad spear-head from 
Iowa. S. i-i. From its form 
one may conclude that it was 
chipped from a larger imple- 
ment which had been broken. 



fig. 28. 



In Figure 29 the shoulders are 
much broader than the body of the 
spear-head. The form is more common 
South than North. 

Savannah Valley, Ga. S. 1-1. 




fig. 29. 



SPEAR AND ARROW-HEADS 



29 




FIG. 30. BLUE GRASS, IOWA. S. I-I. 

This marks the division between B. and C, as it may be classed 
with either. 




FIG. 31. WHITE FLINT, SCOTT CO., IOWA. S. I-I. 

Fig. 31 has a long stem and the shoulders or barbs are pointed. 
This form is somewhat rare. 



30 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




To recite all the other variations would occupy more space than 
can be given to flint implements in this little work. Figures 32 
and 33 will have to suffice. 




fig. 33. 



s. 1-1. 



Chapter V 

Peculiar Forms and Drills 

DIVISION IV. 

There is no lack of oddities and " unknowns " among flint 
implements, and Dr. Wilson might have expanded his scheme so 
that it would comprise drills, scrapers, knives, etc. 




In Fig. 34 we have a common arrow-head, 
but the edge has been chipped so that a broken 
line appears rather than a graceful curve or 
straight sides. These are rare. 



fig. 34. 
lawrence co., o. 

S. I I. 



Figure 35 shows one of the rechipped, single- 
barbed arrow-heads. Probably it originally had a 
similar barb on the right. The single-barbed pro- 
jectile points are found in some numbers in south- 
west Missouri and northern Arkansas. The pur- 
pose of these is not known. 




fig. 35. 
frierson, la. 

S. 1-2. 



Figs. 29, 33-4 are taken from Mr. Fowke's Stone Art, Bureau Ethnology 
Report. 1891-2. 



32 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




FIG. 36. ROTARY SPEAR- 
HEAD. ELKTON, TENN. 
S. I-I. 



Figure 36 is one of the rare forms of 
rotary and serrated spear-heads. It is 
beveled to the left, as most of them are. 
Just why flint implements like this should 
have been beveled, one may not know. 
Dr. Wilson and others affirm that the 
beveling does not give a rotary motion to 
the point when shot, but that such motion 
was obtained or controlled by the feathers 
upon the shaft. It is quite obvious that a 
rotary and serrated spear-head, or arrow- 
point, would make a larger wound than an 
ordinary point ; and the animal would 
soon become exhausted from loss of blood, 
etc. We are of the opinion that such im- 
plements were used in hunting large game. 
Any one who has hunted with modern, 
small-calibre ammunition knows that the 
soft-nosed bullet is preferable to a bullet 
making a small, clean wound. The old 
style, large-calibre ammunition will speedily 
bring down almost any big game ; whereas, 
the same animal will run a long distance 
after having been shot by a high velocity, 
small-calibre bullet. A bow is not as 
effective as a rifle, and, as the pre-historic 
tribes were dependent upon their bows 
and spears to a great extent, they natu- 
rally employed projectiles which would 
bring about the greatest possible execution. 
This must be taken into consideration 
when studying flint implements. 



SPEAR AND ARROW-HEADS 



33 



Throughout the far West are found the minute points and 
knives of obsidian, carnelian, agate, jasper, agatized wood and other 
semi-precious stones. Because of their beauty, they have long been 
prized by collectors. An endless variety is found. Unfortunately, 
we cannot show more than a few of them. 

abed e 









1 






111 w 

I 

W f 




v fir * y 














V 


' k§ \ ft 

* ¥ . . ■ 





o n m 1 k j i h 

FIG. 37. S. 2-3. THOMAS COLLECTION, IDAHO AND OREGON. 

The workmanship on these 18 points is exceedingly fine. 

A. A long, narrow point of obsidian. 

B. A thin, narrow point of obsidian. 
C A typical broad point of obsidian. 

D. Very small and of fantastic form. Obsidian. 

E. Made in the shape of a fish. Carnelian. 

F. Smaller than the average. Clear agate. 

G. The usual Oregon type. Moss agate. 

H. Unknown form. Agatized wood. 

I. Crescent form. Lance knife ? 



34 PREHISTORIC RELICS 

J-K. Banded carnelian. 

Above them is a remarkable pattern cut out of red and white 
agatized wood. 

L. Very fine one of obsidian. 

M. Note the difference in the barbs between this one and the 
others. 

N. Common form in obsidian. 
O. Unusual form in obsidian. 

Near Stockton, California, some curious knives occur. Ten of 
them are shown in Fig. 38. The Rev. Mr. Meredith has described 
these in the American Ai-chaeologist* In that paper he expressed 




SPEAR AND ARROW-HEADS 



35 



In British Columbia fantastic forms in chipped objects are 
found. 






FIG. 39. UNKNOWN FORMS 



MATERIAL, GLASSY BASALT. 
S. I-I. 



LYTTON, B. C. 



Cut loaned by the American Museum of Natural History, New 
York. Prof. Harlan I. Smith, Collector. 

The scraper is widely distributed. It is notched or urmotched, 
large or small, curved or straight, oval or round. But the method of 
hafting was practically the same. 

Fig. 40 is a skin scraper in wooden handle. 
Shuswap Indians, Kamloops, B. C. " Many scrap- 
ers of this sort, and some natural fragments of con- 
venient form from neighboring outcrops, have been 
seen in use among the women of this region for soft- 
ening skins.* They were inserted in the split end 
of a wooden handle about three feet in length, and 
held there by winding with a thong that portion of 
the wood that held the stone. After the skin has 
been fleshed and freed from hair, it is stretched 
upon a framework of poles and prevented from be- 
coming hard and stiff by being scraped and poked 
with such a scraper until it is thoroughly dry. 
The specimen shown in this figure is much worn by 

such use." 
fig. 40. s. 1-4. 

Scrapers constitute a large and important class 

of flint implements. Among them are thick, curved flakes, one end 

of which has been chipped to a chisel form. Curved scrapers 

* Jessup, North Pacific Expedition. Archaeology of Lytton, B. C. Harlan 
I. Smith, May, '99, pg. 147. 




36 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



were exceedingly convenient because the under surface was always 
smooth, and the implement would neatly fit the hand, lying along the 
side of the index finger, with the end against the base of the thumb, 
and the scraper side slightly protruding beyond the joint of the 
index finger. Scrapers were often made from broken arrow heads. 
Nearly all scrapers having notches were originally spear or arrow- 
heads. The primitive artisan showed his good sense and economy 
in utilizing broken specimens in this manner. 

Now, the scraper graduates into the knife. We cannot draw a 
line between them, although we can easily distinguish the extremes. 
But drills do not resemble the other classes. 




FI3. 41. DRILL FORMS, OHIO VALLEY. S. I-I. 

Many of the objects which we have been calling drills were 
doubtless used as ornaments, or employed for purposes other than 
the perforating of shell, stone, and bone naterials. Some ten years 
ago, Dr. Steiner of Grovetown, Georgia, advanced the theory that the 



SPEAR AND ARROW-HEADS 



37 



long and slender ones could not hare been used in drilling, but, on 
the contrary, were hair pins. He remarked the similarity between 
these and the long shell pins found in southern mounds and graves, 
and which are considered hair pins by archaeologists. Since Dr. 
Steiner's opinion was given several persons have claimed the credit 
of the theory. Most collectors think Dr. Steiner is correct. We will 
admit that most of the drill-shaped flint and stone artifacts were used 
by the aborigines for drilling purposes, for the greater number are 
short or thick, or of such shapes as preclude the idea of having been 
worn as head ornaments. 

But the long and slender drills — say three and one-half to five 
inches — have certainly been chipped out by skilled and careful 
workmen, and were manifestly too valuable to be risked as mere 
tools. They can be subjected to but slight usage — for the danger 
of breaking is great. Moreover, a hollow reed or a hardwood stick 
served the purpose just as well and could be easily replaced. There- 
fore, one cannot believe that they are merely perforating tools. 

For classification purposes drills may be treated of in two 
sections — the " broad top " and the narrow, spike-like forms. There 
are variations in size. These do not justify us in forming sub- 
divisions. 




DRILL, ONACHITA CO., ARK. S. UNKNOWN. 



FIG. 42. 



Number 1 in Figure 41 shows the ordinary " rounded top " 
form. Number 2, the small top and slender body. Number 3, the 
square top; and Number 4, the thin drill. There are many modifi- 
cations of the type. Some are thick, others thin ; some short, others 
long ; some have broader tops and narrow sharp points, others have 
blunt points. They have been called " rimmers etc. Some of 
them are very rude, especially those found on work-shop sites, and 
they may represent unfinished specimens. Some are three to four 
inches long, but there are very delicate ones from Tennessee, which 



38 PREHISTORIC RELICS 

were less than an inch in length, yet exceedingly thin and having 
quite sharp points. One authority says that he concludes that the 
small and sharp ones were used as lancets. 




fig. 43- 
blue grass. iowa. 

S. I-I. 



This, perhaps, is a perforator made from 
a larger implement which was broken and 
then chipped to restore it to usefulness. It 
has an unusually broad top or base and is 
somewhat peculiar on that account. 

Just why a drill or perforator should 
have so broad a top we cannot perceive, 
unless that such were designed for hand 
tools and not intended to be fitted into a 
handle. 




FIG. 44. KANAWHA VALLEY. S. UNKNOWN. 



Long body, short drill point. Perhaps not a perforator at all. 



DRILLS 



39 



Probably a projectile point. We cannot say with any degree of 
certainty what it was. 




FIG. 45. BARSTOW CO., GA. S. UNKNOWN. 



In Figure 45 is another unknown. Mr. Fowke illustrates it in 
his Stone Art, and says that it is a " large implement ". What was 
it used for ? Why is the small, sharp point ? These questions are 
easy to ask and difficult to answer. 

. Figs. 44 and 45 are from Mr. Fcnvke's Stone Art; Bureau of Ethnology 
Report. '91-2. 



4o 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



It is scarcely necessary to call the attention of readers to the 
difference between the slender hairpin form and the shorter drill 
form. We cannot see how the same purpose can be assigned to 
both forms ; yet several archaeologists call all of them drills, no 
matter how slender they may be. 

For drills, etc.. the same materials were employed as for spear 
and arrow points, and knife blades. 

A much larger number of broken drills are found on the camp 
sites and fields than of perfect ones. Frost, or a flaw in the material, 
or a misdirected blow by a aboriginal worker — these have conspired 
to produce many broken specimens. 

Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Western New York, Michigan, and 
Tennessee furnish the finest. Some very good ones come from the 
South, but, as a rule, Southern types are rude. They are rare in the 
Southwest and on the Pacific coast. But few are found in New 
England. Canadian collections show that this relic is found in 
considerable numbers north of the Great Lakes. Specimens more 
than five inches long are very rare. The longest drill we ever saw 
was 7 1-4 inches. 

There are a few very minute odd-shaped relics, which may be 
perforators (or used for some unknown purposes), found in various 
parts of the country. Some of these are ''three pronged", others 
are curved and may have served use as fish-hooks. One is illustrated 
on the right in Figure 39. 



Chapter VI 



Flint Knives and Distribution of Materials and Forms 



A 




A. Form of knife somewhat differ- 
ent from the oval. 

B. Knife with well defined handle. 

C. Semi-lunar knife with pointed 
ends. 



C B 

FIG 46. 

FLINT KNIVES FROM GEORGIA. 
S. 1-2. 



Flint knives are common throughout the western continent and 
present a great variety of form and material. In numbers and dis- 



42 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



tribution they rank second to arrow-heads, but are in preponderance 
over spear-heads, scrapers, etc. The forms cannot be clearly sepa- 
rated as in arrows and spears, but on the contrary they shade or 
merge from one type into another. 

A knife was a universal tool. It found its place in every house- 
hold, at the side of every warrior, in the hunter's belt, in the priest's 
paraphernalia, at the funeral, etc. In short, it was ever present. It 
might be rough or well finished — a rude specimen of poor chert, or a 
work of art in chalcedony, — a common hide scraper and cutter in 
the hands of an old squaw, or a beautiful obsidian blade in the pos- 
session of a high chief. Many of our best steel blades today are 
identical in form with the flint knives of long ago ; and the difference 
lies not so much in shape as in man's inventive genius and the im- 
provement in materials. 

Very rude, thick or " clumsy " arrow-heads are usually con- 
sidered unfinished. No so with knives. Some are undoubtedly 
incomplete. But crudeness in a knife does not imply lack of use. 
The roughest specimens may have seen service. Dr. Wilson's A. 
and B. in Division I present common knives. The chipping is 
fairly well done, yet in many specimens of this form it is much 
rougher, the flakes being larger, Of such, either end could be used 
to advantage. The indentations are due to flaws in the material or 
haste on the part of the maker. They indicate no purpose. The 
artisan wanted a knife and was not particular as to form of work- 
manship. A prevailing form is a simple flat flake, two to five inches 
long and one-half to two inches broad. Slightly thick at the top 
(1-8 to 1-16 of an inch), it tapers to a very sharp edge. Apparently 
it was struck off by one blow off the hammer. In some specimens 
the edge has been worn until dull, then it was rechipped very 
delicately. Knives of this type are sufficiently sharp to sever ten- 
dons or muscles. The curved flake knife we have always thought to 
have been for flesh cutting. They have been used in historic times 
by shamans for surgical, sacrificial and other kindred purposes : also 
in torturing captives, etc. 

The semi-lunar knife is found in New England, Canada and 
New York State. The form is supposed to have been derived from 
the Eskimo. Collectors who possess variations of C in Fig. 46 are 
fortunate. The best specimens of the " double curved " knives, well 



FLINT KNIVES 



43 



chipped and thin, are very rare. Moreover, they are more interest- 
ing and appear to better advantage in a cabinet than any other flint 

objects. We do not except spears or 
" drill-shaped " specimens of the highest 



tool chipping or flaking) is exceedingly well done. Undoubtedly 
only the chief men, priests, etc., of tribes possessed these better 
implements. 

By sickle form one does not mean those Tennessee and Georgia 
peculiar curved implements. That some genuine specimens have 
been secured no one can deny. But a large number of unheard of 
forms have since been manufactured and sold. Collectors would do 
well to taboo all " ceremonial crooks " or other freaks unless familiar 
with the locality and the finders. The Ohio Valley curved knife is. 
by no means so curved as the Tennessee ones. Moreover, so far as 
we are aware, it has not been counterfeited. 

In addition to the double curved knife there is a knife with a 
straight back and a curved or oval edge, a long thin knife such as 
Dr. Wilson shows in the two specimens to the right in Division i, 
Class A ; also the curved back and concave edge. Then there is a long 
dagger-like implement which may properly be considered a knife. 
The handle is much thicker than the blade and the object varies 
from seven to ten inches in length. Shorter knives were set in 
wooden or bone handles. Several bone handles have been found in 
the Ohio gravel burials and wooden handles are not uncommon in 
the Cliff-dweller country where the aridity of the atmosphere has 
preserved them. For variety and fineness, Tennessee and Ohio may 




grades. It must be borne in mind that 
the type is much finer than the illus- 
tration indicates. Sometimes they are 
as thin as sickle blades, but more fre- 
quently less curved and about 1-4 to 1-3 
of an inch in transverse section in the 
thickest portion. They range from three 
to six inches in length. The points are 
seldom as sharp as we have shown this 
one to be. Usually they are slightly 
rounded. But the final chipping (bone 



FIG. 47. STRYKER, OHIO, 



S. 1-2. 



44 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



well be ranked first. The finest work in small knives is found on 
the Pacific coast. 

Sometimes knives are shouldered or notched in order that they 
may be securely fastened in the handle. One of these is shown in 
Figure 48. Larger spear-heads, on becoming broken were fashioned 
into knives or scrapers. 




FIG. 48. FRIERSON, 7 LA. S. 1-2. 



Chapter VII 



Manufacture of Flint Implements 

A great deal of nonsense is in circulation among collectors with 
regard to how the aborigines made the arrow-heads, spears, knives, 
etc. The late Professor Frank H. Gushing experimented not a little 
along this line. Mr. J. D. McGuire of the Smithsonian Institution, 
whose work is referred to in a number of places in this pamphlet, is 
also an authority upon this subject. Lewis and Clark in their famous 
expedition of 1803-5, record that they saw the Indians of the Upper 
Columbia river making obsidian arrow-heads. The arrow point was 
chipped with bone and the process was rapid and skilful. A resume 
of the conclusions of these gentlemen might be stated as follows: — 

Three kinds of flint were used ; the nodular flint, that of concre- 
tionary formation and found in certain portions of the United States ; 
the drift flint, being composed of pebbles or irregular pieces of flint 
found in the gravel of streams; and the quarry flint — which is con- 
sidered the best of all — which is found in layers in certain portions 
of the country, notably in Indian Territory, Illinois, Kansas, Susque- 
hanna Valley, Pa., and Flint Ridge, Ohio. Whether the man se- 
cured a nodule or whether he quarried his flint it does not matter. 
The first step in the process was the rough blocking out of the speci- 
men. He took an ordinary water worn stone of hard material and 
using it as a hammer stone, he struck off irregular flakes, directing 
his blows to the right or to the left, according to his desire ; then 
turned the object over and repeated the process on the other side. 
With a smaller hammer he detaches small flakes or chips and hav- 
.ing reduced it to the form of a turtle back or disc he did the final 
chipping with bone. 

Mr. George Sellars wrote an able paper upon the manufacture of 
flint implements and we regret that we have not sufficient space to 
reproduce it in full. Readers are referred to the original * and also 
to a paper on the same subject by W. K. Moorehead.f 

* Observations on Stone Chipping ; George Sellars, of Illinois. Smithsonian 
Report, 1885, p. 87. 

t Prehistoric Implements, p. 401. 



4 6 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



" It is the large hoes and spades flaked from quartzite slabs that 
to me are evidence of a much higher degree of intelligence and skill 
than the most highly finished spear and arrow-points evince. Take 
an edge view of one of these large spades, and observe how ac- 
curately straight and free from wind, the edge has been carried en- 
tirely around the implement, the flattening of one side and rounding 
the other ; then observe that the long flat very slightly depressed 
flakes have been thrown off at right angles to the edge, even to those 
curving around its digging or cutting end, which appear to have radi- 
ated from a common center. If these flakes have been thrown off by 
blows so struck and directed as to preserve the cleanly lined edges, 
as the operator has carried them in his mind, a skill must have been 
acquired that we cannot approach. 

" In all the experiments that I have tried with a hammer, 
whether of stone, steel, soft iron, or copper, they have failed to pro- 
duce the desired result ; the seat of the flake is more conchoidal, 
shorter and deeper depressed, whereas the direct percussive pressure 
throws off the shape of flake that we find has been done in making 
these spades. If this mode has been resorted to, it necessarily re- 
quired considerable ingenuity in devices for holding the stone slab 
firmly, while the pressure was being applied in the right direction. 
The wooden clamp described by Catlin may have been used. The 
simplest device that occurs to me that will answer the purpose is a 
block of wood planted in the ground, with its end grain up, cut on 
top into steps, the lower steps having grooves parallel with the rise 
of the upper step ; in one of these grooves the edge of the implement 
is placed, its back resting against the edge of the higher step. When 
in this position, presenting the proper angle to the operator, a man 
holds it firmly while another applies the pressure. A lower step, 
with the back edge of its top hollowed out to receive the work, while its 
lower end rests in an indentation in the lower step. In this manner 
a spade can be firmly held while its cutting end is being flaked. I 
do not present this as the mode that was practiced, but as a device 
that answers the purpose, and I judge to be within the capacity of 
the ancient flint-workers, of whom there is nothing left but their 
chips and their finished work. 

" Let any one experiment with a bone point in chipping flint ; he 
will soon discover the value of a dry bone, a bone free from grease 



MANUFACTURE OF FLINT IMPLEMENTS 



47 



that will hold to its work without slipping, a bone with sufficient 
hardness to resist abrasion, a bone of strength to bear the pressure, 
and he will value such a pointed bone, and will understand why, with 
such a bone, John Smith's ancient arrow-point maker 'valued his 
above price and would not part with it.' I have been informed that 
the modern Indians free their flaking-bones from grease by burying 
them in moistened clay and wood ashes, not unlike the common 
practice of our housewives to remove grease from their kitchen floors. 

" The hunter or trapper described to me the mode still in prac- 
tice among the remote Indians, of making flakes by lever pressure 
combined with percussion, that is more philosophical and a better 
mechanical arrangement than by the use of the flaking staff, as de- 
scribed by Catlin. They might utilize a standing tree with spreading 
roots for this purpose ; a flattened root makes a firm seat for the 
stone, a notch cut into the body of a tree the fulcrum for the lever, 
either a pointed stick is placed on the point of the stone where the 
flake is to be split from it, its upper end resting against the under 
side of the lever, or a bone or horn point let into and secured to the 
lever takes the place of this stick. When the pressure is brought to 
bear, by the weight of the operation, on the long end of the lever, a 
second man with a stone mall, or heavy club strikes a blow on the 
upper side of the lever, directly over the pointed stick or horn-point, 
and the flake is thrown off." 

Professor W. H. Holmes, in the Fifteenth Annual Report of the 
Bureau of Ethnology ('93-' 4) devotes one hundred and fifty-three 
pages to " Stone Implements of the Potomac — Chesapeake Tide- 
water Province." In this able discussion he illustrates and describes 
every step in the manufacture of chipped objects from the quarrying 
to the completed blade. Through the courtesy of the Smithsonian 
Institution, we reproduce his classification in Fig. 49. Collectors 
will do well to study it at length. 

We have now covered the range of flint artifacts, etc., as well as 
could be expected in a small and unpretentious work. Of course, 
there are some forms which resist all attempts at classification. 
Dr. Rau, of the Smithsonian, coined the very appropriate expression 
" individual crankism " — merely a whim of the artisan, and not 
made with any special purpose or design. That is, the aborigine 
made such patterns as he fancied, out of such stone as he could get, 



4 8 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



but would scarcely discriminate against the most easily made and 
best answering his needs. The bird points, war points, spears or 
other things may have been used for special purposes, but — it must 
be remembered that we are referring to the general arrow-heads 
now — you will find dividing them is like hair-splitting; a man does 
not have a different sort of a pocket-knife for every purpose to which 
such an instrument may be applied. 

Flint was essential to the savage ; his very existence depended 
upon it. While it was seldom used for making fire (the bow drill, 
hand drill, and sticks serving this purpose) he depended upon it for 
all the usages named above — in fact it served him as steel and iron 
serve us. 



IMPLEMENTS 




dewater region. The scale varies from one-third to one-sixth. 



Chapter VIII 



Grooved Stone Axes 

The late Dr. Thomas Wilson, for many years Curator of the 
Department of Prehistoric Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, 
published a number of papers in the various governmental reports. 
These papers are now out of print. Dr. Wilson understood the arts 
and life of primitive man and was as well posted on the use of stone 
implements as any person in America. 

We can do no better than to quote his article on axes — pub- 
lished in the Archaeologist, October-November, 1895. The illus- 
trations used by Dr. Wilson cannot be obtained and we have made 
use of other axes to illustrate the types he describes. Several sen- 
tences, or portions of sentences have been omitted. 

Whether each man (or each Indian) in the Neolithic period 
manufactured his own implements, or whether there was a division 
of labor by which certain men with greater dexterity or more mechan- 
ical ability made the implements for their tribes, while others busied 
themselves in the procuration of food for the stone worker at home, 
can never be positively determined. Possibly both methods were 
pursued. From the number of styles and kinds of grooved stone 
axes it may be strongly argued that each man made his own to suit 
his own fancy, and according to the exigencies of his time, industry 
and material. We find these axes rude and finished, rough and 
smooth, long and short, large and small, heavy and light, round, 
square and oval, with deep grooves and shallow grooves, with 
grooves on all sides and edges, with grooves only on one side, again 
only on the edges, and still others only partly in any of these di- 
rections. 

One grand division in the classification of grooved stone axes, 
which applies also to polished stone hatchets, and possibly other 
implements of the same nature, is that they are principally of such 
stone as is not chipped, but has to be hammered or pecked into 



5° 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



shape. Chippable material like flint and its congeners is employed 
in Europe for these kinds of implements to a greater extent than in 
America. We have but to recall the flint hatchets from Grimes' 
Graves in England and Spiennes in Belgium, all of which have been 
chipped and not pecked into shape. The largest proportion, 95 per 
cent or more, of both grooved axes and polished stone hatchets of 
America are made of non-chippable material, and so has been pecked 
into shape. While some of the materials used can be chipped, still 
they do not lend themselves to that process with facility, and it is 
rarely employed in making polished stone axes, or indeed any other 
kind of polished implements. The principal materials employed are 
granite, syenite, diorite, porphry, argillite, sandstone, indurated clay 
slate, with a not inconsiderable proportion, in certain localities, of 
hematite and actinolite. Flint, quartz, jaspar, and obsidian are 
rarely used for these particular instruments. 

Another grand division of grooved stone axes are those made 
from water-worn boulders or pebbles. A rude groove is made in a 
natural pebble of the desired shape, all or a portion of the way 
round, and the bitt is ground to a cutting edge, while the original 
crust of the rest of the boulder is left untouched. The compli- 
mentary number of this classification comprises those, by far the 
greater proportion of the implements, made from quarried material 
and reduced to a symetric form by chipping or pecking, according 
as it was chippable or non-chippable material, followed by grinding 
or polishing. 

Another class is where the grooves cross the implements at an 
angle other than a right angle. In all these the angle of the groove 
is set so as to bring the bitt of the axe nearer to the handle than is 
the poll. These seem to follow the rule adopted in handling adzes 
and gouges. This class comprises but a small proportion of the 
grooved stone axes and seems to be peculiar to certain localities ; 90 
per cent or more of the specimens will have their grooves set at 
right angles or nearly so. 

No classification can be made according to the size of these im- 
plements. They run from the enormous size of 13 inches long, 7 1-2 
inches wide, weighing twenty or more pounds, down to the diminu- 
tive length of two inches and weighing but three or four ounces. 

Having made these general and somewhat indefinite divisions, 



GROOVED STONE AXES 



it remains to classify these implements according 
forms. 



to their peculiar 




FIG. 50. 
GROOVED AXE, VERMONT 



s. 1-3. 



First: The most simple form of 
the grooved stone axe is that with 
a rounded head, tapering sides and 
square edge, with a pecked groove 
of equal width and depth clear 
round the implement. This 
groove resembles that around 
mauls and hammers. (Fig. 50.) 
Figures 51-2 are variations of Fig. 
50. Fig. 51 is longer than 50, its 
groove is not so well defined, its 
poll is larger, its edge narrower. 
Fig. 52 is shorter than 50 or 51. 
Its poll is flatter, its grooves deeper. 
The edges are nearer straight, the 
bitt is wider. It has a curious top 
and may be a broken axe made 
over. 




fig. 51. 
grooved axe, blue, iowa. 

S. 1-2. 




FIG. 52. 
JEFFERSON CO., TENN. 
S. ABOUT I-3. 



52 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



Second : This form is symmetrical on sides and edges ; the poll 
inclines to be more pointed than the first class, but the bitt is much 
the same. The groove has the peculiarity of projecting ridges all 
round, producing a deeper groove than it would otherwise be. This, 
however, is only apparent and not real, for the ridges have been pro- 
duced by pecking away, abraiding the implement on the poll and 
edge on either side of and approaching the groove. It will be per- 
ceived that this last operation produces a different implement from 
Fig. 50, in that the making of the ridges has greatly increased the 
cost of production in both time and labor. 




FIG. 53. S. 1-2. 

Third : This class (Fig. 53) may have the rounded poll and the 
straight edge of Fig. 50 ; or it may be more angular. The difference 
is that the back of the implement, that which comes toward the 
workman when he is using the implement, is straight or nearly so, 
from poll to bitt. This back is made flat transversely, as well as 



GROOVED STONE AXES 



53 



straight longitudinally ; indeed, it is not infrequent to find it con- 
cave transversely. The purpose of this flat-backed peculiarity is 
apparently for the insertion of a wedge by which the implement may 
be tightened in its withe and made firmer in its handle. 

Fig. 53 is a grooved axe of very fine workmanship found near 
Valley City, Iowa. It is of green stone and weighs 6 1-2 pounds. 
This is an excellent representative of the better grade of axes found 
in the north-western portion of the Middle South. The back is 
curved. 

The foregoing forms are the commoner, and they furnish the 
medium sizes and weights. Their average length will be from 5 to 
7 inches, with a weight of from 1 1-2 to 2 pound. It is, however, to 
be remarked that these forms, as well as others, shade away into 
each other, and the line of division becomes imperceptible. 

Fourth : There are a few grooved stone axes with flat sides and 
edges, square corners and square polls. Usually, the groove is 
around the front and two sides, and not on the back. 

Fifth : Fig 54 represents a class of grooved stone axes remark- 
able for their length in proportion to 
their other dimensions. This speci- 
men is slightly flatter than oval in sec- 
tions, a little straighter on one edge 
than on the other. With these ex- 
ceptions it is quite symmetrical. It has 
been thus hammered and pecked into 
shape, and with a slight groove near the 
poll. Its greater proportionate length 
places it in a new class. Dr. Wilson 
refers to one found in Wisconsin even 
larger than Fig. 54. It represents an 
implement one foot in length. The 
groove has the projecting ridges of Fig. 
53. It is also set at an acute angle and 
54- s - i-5- is thus a representative of one of the 

grand divisions. 

This specimen is an illustration of the statement that the classes 
of these implements fade away into each other in form and size, 
making it impossible to draw a hard and fast line between classes. 




54 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



There are certain other of these implements which have the charac- 
teristics of extreme length, and of the groove set near the poll, but 
with the added peculiarity of longitudinal grooves or flutings down 
the bitt, fading away in the cutting edge. These flutings are not 
deep, and sometimes even are only flat and about three-fourths of an 
inch wide, the axes being three inches in width, four flutings on each 
side. 

Sixth : Double-bitten stone axes, with a groove in the middle 
and a bitt with cutting edge at both ends and no poll, form another 
class. They are quite symmetrical, heavy in the center and light in 
the bitts or cutting ends, with raised 

ridges on either side of the groove, /^t Jlk, 

which, with the groove, extend clear 
around. 

Seventh : Fig. 55 represents a class 
whose peculiarities are their large 
size compared with their extremely 
narrow bitt, the cutting edge being 
reduced almost to a point. From 
their similarity to the picks found in 
steatite quarries, and the fact of the 
grooved axes having been also found 
and used in steatite quarries (as re- 
cently recounted by Prof. Putnam) 
combined with the evidence arising 
from location, it is probable that this 
class of implements was used for 
working steatite. The edge is so 
much pointed that this class of im- 
plements could scarcely have been 
adapted to the general use of cutting 
or splitting wood. The polls of these 
implements nearly all show signs of 
hammering or pounding, as with a 

maul or hammer. - : 



The National Museum possesses a specimen, the largest in the 
collection, an implement with a groove on three sides, ridges and 



GROOVED STONE AXES 



55 



flat back as for tightening wedge, but which weighs 20 1-2 pounds, 
quite too heavy to have been used by the ordinary method of an axe. 
The edge is blunt but smooth, and it and the bitt are scored with 
longitudinal striae, some of which are quite profound, as though the 
implement had been used as a wedge. The poll bears evidences of 
the pounding or hammering. The implement would serve admir- 
ably for the splitting of large logs. 

Eighth: Another division can be made of hematite axes. This 
material is one of the oxides of iron. It cannot be chipped but may 
be beaten or hammered, if not pecked, but is always ground or 
polished. Many of the small hatchets of this material differ from 
the class of implements now under consideration in that they have 
no groove, but many of them, made from large and apparently 
natural nuggets or concretions, are found with the groove, by which 
they can be handled with a withe or thong. Some of these are sym- 
metrical, owing usually to the original form or condition of the 
nugget, though many of them are of great symmetry and beauty. 
Mr. A. E. Douglas, of the American Museum of Natural History, 
of New York, was offered one from Missouri, the largest and finest 
of its kind in the United States. The finder, having more curiosity 
than judgment, had broken a large piece out of the bitt with intent 
to discover the material. Mr. Douglas purchased the axe, but it's 
owner's curiosity cost him more than fifty dollars in the reduced 
price. 

Ni7ith : The grooved stone axes from the Pueblo country of the 
Southwest form another class. They are of actinolite, a species of 
jade. 

They are of the variegated colors usual to that material. They 
pass from pink and jaspar through all the shades of blue and yellow, 
until some end in a deep black. They are of small size compara- 
tively, are usually square or slightly oval in section, have a deep 
groove and occasionally two grooves near the poll. These have been 
brought into shape by pecking and afterwads by grinding, and as 
the material is hard and close in texture, the operation has produced 
a fine polish. Some of these implements were found by, and are 
described and figured in the Report of the Geological Survey, Vol. 
VII, Archaeology where the illustrations done by chromo-lithography 
give a better idea of their appearance than could any description. 



56 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



Many of these grooved implements, apparently once axes with bitts 
and cutting edges, have been broken or bruised so that they can be 
no longer used for cutting purposes. The former edge has been de- 
stroyed and the implement afterwards used as a hammer, as is shown 
by the blunt and battered end, and when the edge was broken it was 
subjected to a secondary treatment, and was chipped and ground to 
a new edge. None of the Pueblo actinolite axes seem ever to have 




been thus treated, although the cutting edge may have been battered 
until it is three-fourths of an inch in thickness. We have no speci- 
mens showing secondary treatment or any attempt at re-sharpening. 
A peculiarity of these axes is that many of them have two grooves. 
They are parallel with and close to each other. The purpose of this 
has never been satisfactorily explained. An occasional axe from 
other far distant localities shows two grooves. In addition to the 



GROOVED STONE AXES 



57 



above there are a few forms mentioned by Dr. Wilson but not illus- 
trated. The double grooved axe is exceedingly rare. This one is 
in the collection of C. J. Beencks. 



Axe with three shallow grooves. A rare specimen. Found in 
Putnam County, Ind. The specimen is 15 inches long, has an 
average width of 4 inches and a maximum thickness of one inch at 
the grooved end, from which it gradually tapers to 1-2 inch at the 
other end, finally terminating in a finely wrought cutting edge. It 
will be seen from the figure that the upper half carries three grooves, 
very prominent at the sides, but consisting of slight depressions only 
across the faces. The top is hollowed or depressed. The sides are 
beautifully rounded and the entire surface highly polished. The 
material is ferruginous slate, having a hardness of five on a scale of 
ten. The specimen is dark olive in color. For what purpose were 
the grooves or depressions at top ? As they show no appreciable 





FIG. 58. TRIPLE GROOVED AXE, IND. S. I-5. 



58 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



signs of wear, it would seem hardly probable that they ever served to 
fasten the object to a handle ; on the contrary, we are inclined to 
think that if, in fact, it represents one form of a spade it must have 
been used as such without the aid of a handle, 
that is, with the hands alone. The form and 
size render it admirably suited to such use. 
Prof. Emery's collection. 

The striated axes found in the St Lawrence 
region have been described by Mr. C. E. 
Brown in the Wisconsin Archaeologist. This 
axe is the smallest on record and we reproduce 
its exact size. It was found in Missouri. Ma- 




terial, 



granite. 



Owned by Mr. Sosnovec. 



fig. 59 




fig. 60. 

Grooved axe made from a curved pebble, 



Mc- 
Art, 



S. about 1-3. 

Minn Co., Tenn. Described in Mr. Gerard Fowkes' Stone 
Bureau Ethnology. Rep., '91-2, page 71. 

" In nearly all of our axes the groove is above the middle, but 
never so near the top as in western axes. The groove extends en- 
tirely around the body of all our axes and is very seldom oblique, 



GROOVED STONE AXES 



59 



though it is in some cases. On the average the New England axes 
are six or seven inches long, two thirds as wide, and .weigh three or 
four pounds. None of those that I have seen are polished, none are 
at all cylindrical as are some of the western axes but all are more or 
less narrowly oval in cross section. Fig. 61 may serve as very good 
average type of New England axes. As a rule our axes are not 
polished, the surface being left as it was finished by pecking. Dr. 
Williams writes that he has an axe found in Conn, that has a double 
groove. Most of the stone axes would prove very inefficient tools in 
the hands of any white man, but there is good reason for believing 
tha f , when used by those who were accustomed to them, they were 
far from useless. In the account of his trip through the lake, which 




FIG. 6l. SIMPLE FORM OF NOTCHED AXE. SHORES OF 
LAKE CHAMPLAIN. 

bears his name, Champlain speaks several times of the use which his 
savage companions made of their stone axes. He does, indeed call 
these axes very bad, but he also tells us that when the Indians 
wished to camp for the night they made a barricade by cutting down 
large trees with these axes and that they were able in two hours to 
make so strong a defense that five hundred men could not break 
through without great loss. Nor did they use fire in this instance, 



60 PREHISTORIC RELICS 

for Champlain says that when making the barricade they did not 
kindle a fire lest the smoke reveal their presence to their enemies.*" 




fig. 62. s. 1-1. 

Rude notched axe, not polished but chipped into shape by a 
few blows. Such were doubtless used about the quarries for digging, 
grubbing up bushes, etc. From the Potomac Valley. 
* Prof. Geo. H. Perkins, Prehistoric Implements, p. 10S. 



GROOVED STONE AXES 



6 1 




FIG 63. DOUBLE GROOVED AXE, ILLINOIS. S. ABOUT I-5. 



This interesting specimen is owned by Mr. M. Tandy. A deep 
narrow cut extends from top to bottom. A celt in the Ohio State 
University Collection at Columbus is similarly cut. 



Chapter IX 



Polished Stone Hatchets, or Celts 

Of the pecked, ground or polished objects these are the most 
numerous. Since we have quoted Dr. Wilson on axes, let us give 
some of Mr. Gerard Fowke's observation on celts.* There is no 
better posted man than Mr. Fowke on this subject. 

"What is true of the uses and distribution of stone axes applies 
with much the same force to what are called celts — not a good des- 
criptive term, but one which is now given to the implement in lieu of 
something better. It would appear difficult or impossible to do with 
these rude tools any work for which we commonly use an axe or 
hatchet ; and yet, by the aid of fire, or even without it, the aborigines 
contrived to accomplish a great deal with them. 

" The Maori of New Zealand do all their wonderful work of 
wood carving with only a chisel or adze (of stone or shell). 1 Among 
the Iroquois, in cutting trees, fire was applied at the root, the coals 
were scraped away with a chisel, and this process was repeated until 
the tree was felled. The trunk was divided into lengths in the same 
way. Similarly canoes and mortars were hollowed out. 2 The Vir- 
ginia Indians at an early day employed a similar process. They also 
cleared ground for cultivation by deadening trees with their toma- 
hawks, 3 and used adzes made of shell in cleaning out the charred 
wood in making canoes. The Nootka of the northwestern part of 
the continent, in felling a tree use a flint or elkhorn set in a handle, 
this being struck with a stone mallet. 4 In hollowing canoes a 
mussel-shell also is used as an adze, and sometimes fire is applied. 
The outside is shaped by similar means. 5 

* Eleventh Annual Report, Bureau of Ethnology; (1891-2) pages 72-75. 

1 Wood, J. G. ; Natural History of Mankind , p. 200. 

2 Morgan, L. H. ; League of the Iroquois, p. 358. 

3 Beverly, Robt. ; History of Virginia, 1722, p. 198. 

4 Wyth, Hohn ; Graphic Sketches, part 1, plate 14. 

5 Catlin, Geo. : Last Rajnbles Among the Indians, pp. 100-101. 



POLISHED STONE HATCHETS 



63 



" Stone chisels have been found in various steatite quarries, 
where vessels and other utensils of this material were made, and the 
marks of their use is plain both on the vessels in an unfinished state 
and on the cores, as well as on the quarry face. 6 

"The different ways of hafting, as shown by specimens in the 
Bureau collection, were as follows : 

(1) A hole was cut entirely through a stick and the celt was in- 
serted so that it would project on both sides ; 

(2) The hole was cut partly through, and the celt was pushed 
in as far as it would go ; 

(3) The top of the celt was set in a socket of deer horn, which 
was put into a handle as in form 2 ; 

(4) Small celt-shaped knives or scrapers were set into the end 
of a piece of antler long enough to be used as a handle ; 

(5) A forked branch was so cut as to make two prongs of nearly 
equal length, and the celt was fastened to the end of one, parallel 
with it, the other being used to guide and steady it, a prong being 
held in each hand ; 

(6) The fork of a root or branch was trimmed so as to make a 
flat face at any desired angle, to which the celt was lashed, a 
shoulder, against which the end of the celt was set, being sometimes 
cut in the wood ; 

(7) A stick was split its entire length and a single turn taken 
around the celt, the ends being brought together and tied, forming a 
round handle ; 

(8) A stick was split part way, one fork cut off and the other 
wrapped once or twice and tied, thus forming a round handle of solid 
wood. Forms 5 and 6 were used as adzes ; forms 7 and 8 are the 
same methods as employed in hafting grooved axes. 

"Amounting similar to form 4 is seen in some Alaska speci- 
mens of celt-scrapers in which the implement is fastened to a piece 
of wood so as to project a short distance and used like a plane. In 
all these, the celt is very firmly fastened to the handle with sinew or 
rawhide, which, when put on green, contracts with great force and 
binds like wire. 

6 Mohr, Smithsonian Report for 1881, p. 618; Barber, Amer. Nat., vol. 12; 
p. 403; McGuire, Ibid., vol xvii, p. 587; Walker, Science, vol. ix, p. 10 ; Schumacher, 
Eleventh Annual Report of Peabody Museum, p. 263. 



64 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




FIG. 64. 
POLISHED CELT. 



forms of celts, no division is practicable based on 
anything but their entire appearance." 

Mr. Fowke then proceeds to illustrate a large 
number of celts, chisels, etc. 

The common form of celts need not be illus- 
trated here. In Fig. 69 we have stone knives — 
perhaps celts — from the south-west — reproduced 
from Nordenskiold's valuable work, Cliff-dwellers of 
the Mesa Verde. In Fig. 64 we have the pol- 
ished celt of southern form. It is the most beauti- 
ful of all the celt-like objects, and is always 
symmetrical and sharp. 

Fig. 65 is a flint celt, but so highly polished 
that it does not belong in the chipped-tool classi- 
fication. The polishing of flint was a long and 
laborious process. 




FIG. 65. BENTON CO., TENN. 



POLISHED STONE HA TCHETS 



65 





l: 



FIG. 66. FIG. 67. 

ARKANSAS. S. UNKNOWN. S. ABOUT 1-2. 

The chisel form, the celt with almost square edges and flat sides 
are all shown in Fig. 66. 

Prof. Perkins says of Fig. 67 : " It shows neatly made hand 
axe, for it is evidently of green porphyry. The labor of working so 
perfectly finished a specimen from a pebble of so 
hard a stone must have been very great. Many of 
these smaller celts were made of attractive material, 
as serpentine, fine grained granite, compact talcose 
slate, etc., and there are no handsomer specimens 
in our collections than some of these." 

There are, in addition to those named, a few 
celts like Fig. 68. E is the top. F is the rounded 
face. G the back, which is sharply bevelled off 
near the edge. This form is found in both stone 
and hematite. Why they were made in this shape 
no one knows. Certainly it required more work. 
That the specimen was for a particular purpose no 
one will deny. 

In the arid South-west many textile fabrics, 
cords and other perishable objects are preserved FIG - 68. s. 1-2. 
by climatic conditions. Thus we are enabled to study axes, celts, 
knives, and other things in their original handles. 



F 



SIDE-VIEW. 




FIG. 69. S. ABOUT 1-4 (SEE RULE). 
FROM CLIFF-HOUSES OF SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO. 



POLISHED STONE HATCHETS 



67 



1. Small point (drill ?) of flint attached by strips of yucca fiber 
to a stick. 

2. Drill point of jasper, with the yucca strips for fastening it to 
the shaft still adhering to it. 

3. Knife of quartzite. 

4. Axe in handle. Decorated blade. Handle composed of 
twigs bent around the axe and bound with strips of yucca and hide. 

5. Scraper of flint, with a cotton string bound around it. 

6. Sandstone axe in handle. 

7. Quartzite knife. Traces of pitch or asphalte remain. 
Knives were fastened to handles with such substances. 

8. Skinning knife of hornstone. Perhaps a celt-like object 
(curved, polished stone hatchet). 

9. A polished stone hatchet or celt. These are frequently 
found. They are thin and sharp. The eastern type of celt does 
not occur. 

10. Skinning knife of hornstone. The handle was found still 
attached to the knife, but was entirely decayed. We have repro- 
duced all of these from Baron G. Nordenskiold's Cliff-Dwellers of 
the Mesa Verde, plate xxxvi. 

Gouges 

"What are known as gouges, or hollow chisels, are perhaps 
more characteristic of New England than any other stone imple- 
ments, for, while they are by no means unknown outside of New 
England, they are found here in greatest abundance and variety. 
Certainly no where else does this implement occupy so important a 
place in collections. Some of the gouges are rude, but usually they 
are finely shaped and carefully finished Indeed, none of our speci- 
mens excel them in this respect, not even the amulets and ceremonial 
stones. The material is usually of the best, though it varies greatly 
in different specimens, some being of hard basalt or syenite, others 
of softer slates and stones. It is difficult to conjecture the purpose 
of some of these latter, for the material is too soft to endure hard 
work and yet the labor which must have been expended upon them 
is so great that they must have been of importance to their owners. 
It is also noticeable that some of the most carefully formed and ele- 
gantly finished of the gouges were made of the same banded slate 



68 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




GOUGES. FIG. 70. S. 1-3. VERMONT. 

A. Gray, talcose slate. C. Greenish slate. D. Basaltic rock. 

which was often used in the ornamental or ceremonial objects and 
that none of them show any evidence of use. On this account it 
may be that these finest of our specimens of stone work were not as 
has always been supposed, tools, but some sort of ceremonial stones. 
We find no evidence in any of the old writers that such objects were 
so used, but the character and appearance of the specimens suggest 
the idea. However this may be, it is certain that most of the 
gouges were really tools. 

" The specimen a and b, Fig. 70, may have been an adze, the 
groove across the back being made in order to attach the tool to the 
handle. The gouges may be placed in two series, in one of which 
the groove extends from end to end, while in the other it is confined 
to one end. In most specimens the upper end is narrower than the 
other or hollowed end, but this is not always the case, as c, Fig. 70, 
shows. This specimen is interesting because it is a combination 
tool, one end being gouge and the other chisel."* 
* Professor G. H. Perkins, Prehistoric Implements, p. 102. 



Chapter X 



Pestles, Mortars, Mauls and Hammers 

With the possible exception of mauls, these are essentially vil- 
lage and camp tools, and, particularly the pestles, were used largely 
by the women. Of the mauls there is not much to be said, they be- 
ing in truth large hammers. The mauls are found, largely, in the 
neighborhood of the ancient copper-mine shafts of Lake Superior, at 
Flint Ridge (where flint stone was quarried), and in Arkansas around 
the flint quarry pits and upon the plains of the West. Small mauls 
have been used upon the Plains, both by modern and prehistoric 
savages for the breaking of heavy crania (bison) and to shatter long 
bones. It does not appear that they could have been used in the 
fashioning of implements, etc., and their use in quarry work or in 
breaking detached masses of stone marked their limit in that 
direction. 

A dividing line between grooved hammers and the mauls is 
difficult to establish. The extremes in size are readily recognized, 
but there can be no rule established. As arrow points gradually 
merge into spear points, so do the grooved hammers increase in 
size — when arranged upon a shelf — until they terminate in large 
mauls. The largest ones are rare and not generally owned by 
collectors. 

Fig. 71. Typical of the North-west and the Great Plains. 

Fig. 72. An axe originally; became broken and was made to 
serve as a hammer. 

Hammers and hammer-stones are numerous; particularly the 
latter. Some of the cupped or pitted stones can be classed with the 
latter, yet by no means any save those with slight and irregular de- 
pressions and those showing unmistakable marks of battering, pound- 
ing or pecking. Perhaps there is no better authority on aboriginal 
lapidary work, and the hammer and its use than Mr. J. D. McGuire, 



70 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



and to treat of this common and homely — yet interesting — specimen 
without quoting him would be both an assumption and a slight.* 
Mr. McGuire studied the types in the Smithsonian collections for 
some years. Moreover, he experimented with originals as well as 
with those which he himself made. He became a practical worker 
in stone, and by his labors he has thrown light upon mooted 
questions. 




FIG. 71. 

PARK RAPIDS, MINN. WINSHIP 
COLLECTION. S. 1-2. 



FIG. 72. S. 1-2. 
FROM A CLIFFHOUSE IN 
COLORADO. 



" Battering one stone with another is among the first arts that 
man, even in the lowest stages of savagery, would be likely to dis- 
cover. If he ate nuts or cracked bones or crushed roots, he would 
of necessity perform the work by means of placing the object on one 
stone and crushing it with another. * * * Chipping, on the con- 
trary, is one of the most difficult of labors to perform with success. 
* * * Experience, as well as a priori reasoning, teaches that the 
art of grinding and battering stone must have preceded that of chip- 
ping. * * # 



^American Anthropologist — Vol. IV, p. 301, also Vols. V and VI. 



MORTARS, PESTLES, MAULS, ETC. 



7i 



''The battering hammer is commonly a discoidal stone, having 
a rounded periphery with a pit on each flat surface intended to hold 
the thumb and middle finger, whilst the index finger is placed on the 
periphery. The pits are but slight depressions, but are sufficient to 
prevent the stone from slipping as the blow is given, and at the same 
time enable the workman to raise the index finger slightly and thus 
save the jar, which would otherwise in a few minutes disable the 
arm. The blows of the battering hammer are given at the rate of 
200 or more a minute, which would be impossible with the ordinary 
chipping hammer. With this hammer rapidity is essential, and the 
blow is ordinarily given to a broad surface, and no deliberation is 
necessary. Battered objects are numerous and vary greatly in size, 
consequently the hammer is found to vary likewise. In America it 
is, as a rule, of quartzite but not always so, being varied to some 
extent according to the material to be worked. * * * Such ham- 
mers appear to have been found all over the world, and from the 
surface down to the lowest strata of the caves. They are common 
in the debris of the bottom city of Troy, 52 feet below the present 
surface, and are also found in the oldest lake dwellings, and among 
the most ancient remains of all countries. It is probably more gen- 
erally distributed than any other implement of which we have knowl- 
edge." 

Mr. McGuire concludes that the hand-hammer was more relied 
upon than any other tool. " There is no implement more common 
among the relics of the stone age, none the uses of which have been 
less discussed by archaeologists, and more deserving of thorough 
discussion," He divides them into two classes, and we cannot im- 
prove upon his classification. 

" 1 st. The oblong or flattened ellipsoid having a pit on one or 
both sides; the pits probably being intended as finger-holds to re- 
lieve the index finger from the constant jar occasioned by quickly 
repeated blows on a hard surface. The periphery of these will often 
be found quite smooth, at other times rough, according as it has 
been last used as a hammer or as a rubber, although hammers of 
hard and tough material, when used on stone of similar character, 
wear away on the periphery as though rubbed. 

"2nd. The spherical implement slightly flattened at the poles, 
showing a battered and commonly a smooth surface." He classes 



72 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



the grooved hammer as another type, intended for hafting, and never 
as a rubber. He thinks, and truly, that even stone age men were 
conversant both with the best sources of material and also their 
adaptability for particular uses. Mr. McGuire was able to manu- 
facture axes and celts with such hammers as have been described. 

" The celt or axe, as well as the pestle and the beautiful dis- 
coidal, or hammer stones, may be pecked into shape by means of 
the hand hammer, and its use is apparent on more than one stone 
pipe." Of course the polished implements reached their final 
finished form after a deal of rubbing and polishing. Many of the 
effigies and large stone objects from Central America, the great 
metates from the south-west, and the unpolished axes of the Ohio 
valley show pecked surfaces. 

"Ancient man in America was not possessed with iron and steel, 
nor of other hard metal, yet he fashioned discoidal stones, cere- 
monial weapons, animal pipes and figures with stone hammers, any 
of which required more delicate manipulation than did the Egyptian 
statuary of antiquity. * * * The contention in favor of the use of 
iron and steel or bronze in fashioning celts or statuary of diorite 
cannot be maintained. The stone hammer, in part of the world at 
least, was used in shaping tools and figures of stone. Is it not a 
permissable inference that this was the carving tool, not only of the 
age of stone, but through it to that of bronze, and even to a later 
period, until iron came into comparatively common use ? Then, and 
then only, would stone begin to be supplanted by the iron carving 
tool and sculpture show signs of advance; even then, however, first 
in the softer stones." 

It behooves collectors not to cast aside these hammer stones, 
whether grooved or ungrooved, but on the contrary to carefully ex- 
amine and study them. 

The pestle to the left was made from a peculiar shaped pebble. 
Its form has been further changed by holding it in a certain position 
while grinding. Thus one side has worn away more than the other. 
The pestle 10 the right is unusually short. It may have become 
and was then ground down. 



MORTARS, PESTLES, MAULS, ETC. 



73 




FIG. 74- PARK RAPIDS, M INN. S. f-2 

Typical bell-shaped pestle. A little better than the average. 



74 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



Pestles may be divided into several classes or sub-divisions. 
The upright or bell-shaped, the roller or elongated form, and the 
round ball which, while not pestle in form, beyond question per- 
formed the office of a crushing, bruising or grinding stone. The 
bell-shaped is most widely distributed and is numerous in the entire 
Mississippi Valley north of Memphis. (We would except portions of 
Missouri and Arkansas in this statement.) 

Some of these are exceedingly well wrought, polished, and 
present graceful and symmetrical curves. The top is occasionally 
enlarged or surrounded by a ridge, and just below this the body is 
narrowed; then it suddenly flares out and terminates in a broad, flat 
base. This type is as beautiful as it is rare. Common bell-shaped 
or pear-shaped are short and clumsy — mere cones, with flat bases 
for grinding. None have ever been found in mounds, to our 
knowledge, save in one instance. The roller type is common south 
and fairly numerous north. Very few are well polished and wrought 
with care. 

Few of the cone or pear-shaped pestles have been found in the 
south-west. The natives there use the metate and mano stone or 
the elongated roller pestle in a deep mortar. The mortars and 
metates are very large and in point of workmanship surpass anything 
found elsewhere in the United States. Sometimes the metates have 
carved legs and are inclined — one end being higher than the other. 
The polish and finish on some of the south-west and Pacific rollers 
is simply marvelous. Heads of certain ones indicate phallic wor- 
ship ; others are carved. Bases of some are enlarged. Some even 
exceed thirty-six inches in length and are tapering. Seldom do 
Mississippi Valley forms reach twenty-five inches in length. The 
average is twelve inches. For the bell-shaped forms the range is 
from three and one-half to nine inches ; average, five and one-half 
inches. 

Many pear-shaped pestles show a wearing away at one side as if 
held in one position while being rubbed upon a stone or wood sur- 
face. Others have slight pits or depressions in the center. How 
there are formed we are unable to state. The pits are usually 
polished. Pestles do not indicate an agricultural people exclusively. 
Not only was corn ground with them, but also nuts, seeds, roots, etc. 
The rollers and mano stones of the southwest, and receptacles in 



MORTARS, PESTLES, MAULS, ETC. 



75 



which they were used, belong chiefly to Cliff and Pueblo peoples, 
who were, we know, largely agricultural. Several of our mound- 
building tribes of the central Mississippi Valley region also devoted 
more or less time to agriculture. But of the vast body of natives we 
can only affirm that they were principally hunters, fishers and trap- 
pers, searchers after wild fruits and nuts, and that their wretched 
patches of corn and beans afforded a small and uncertain supply. 
We can, therefore, hardly dignify these tribes with the term " agri- 
culturists." 

Pestles and hammers, in many instances, filled the same office. 
The wants'of a savage, or a barbarian if you please, are simple, and 
he is not supposed to have discriminated in the choice of his imple- 
ments. The tent pegs could be driven as easily and effectively with 
a natural stone as with a fine grooved hammer. A bowl of edible 
roots can be crushed with a round stone or smooth pebble as readily 
as with a pestle. For special grinding, making meal, etc., the pestle 
was needed. The roller did a work for which a round pebble or or- 
dinary rough pestle would be totally unfitted. 




FIG. 75. OUTLINES OF PESTLES FROM FRASER RIVER SITES. S. I-4. 
COLLECTED BY PROF. H. I. SMITH. 

Collectors attempting to secure all the types named must resort 
to exchange or purchase / as in no one section of the country did the 



7 6 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



aborigines employ them all. The long rollers of the Pacific coast 
and mano stones and metates of the southwest can be had from 
western collectors in exchange for eastern types. 

The California and Northwest Coast forms are more elaborate 
than those found elsewhere in North America. Of the elongated 
pestles much might be said, but space forbids. Sometimes effigies 
or totems are carved on one end. These pestles were highly prized 
by the natives and passed from father to son. 




FIG. 76. CALIFORNIA. S. I-7. 



Mortars such as this are common, but there are stone ollas and 
more elaborate mortars. 

As to the methods employed in grinding corn, grains, nuts, etc., 
more than the simple rolling process were in vogue. Fig. 76 A rep- 
resents a possible use of the heavier form of roller-pestle- 



MORTARS, PESTLES, MAULS, ETC. 



77 




FIG. 76 A. 



Woman using a roller pestle (sketch after Schoolcraft). The 
spring of the tree-limb greatly facilitates her work. 



Chapter XI 



Slate Ornaments and Ceremonials 

In casting about among the authorities on these peculiar speci- 
mens, we find articles in the Archaeologist and Popular Science News. 
Most of them were written by Mr. Moorehead, but he mentions the 
fact that he was aided by Messrs. Fowke and Berlin. We reproduce 
part of his articles printed in August and September 1902 in 
Popular Science News. 

Fig. 77. a — The large, oval ornament. Common. 

b — The long ornament with square corners. Not common. 

c — A modification of form a. 

d— " " " " " 

e — The boat-shaped ornament. Flat on one side, convex on 
the other. 

f — A very rare form of ornament. More properly an " un- 
known." 

g — An unfinished e form. 

h — Common ornament or pendant, one perforation. More of 
this kind are found than any other ornament type, 
i — A broken or unfinished ornament, 
j — A modification of form h. 
k — Large, broad ornament, one perforation. 
1 — Large ornament, indented sides, one perforation, 
m — Ordinary form. 

n — Unusual form, may be a broken one re-made, 
o — Same as e. 

p — Fairly rare form, Interesting, 
q — Common double-perforated form. 

a a 11 a 

s — Rare form, raised back and rounded edge or face, 
t — Slender form. Not common. 



SLA TE ORNAMENTS AND CEREMONIALS 79 

In the center very narrow pendants, which are rare, and two 

tablet-shaped forms. The tablets are more often found in mounds, 
t a b 




mi k j 

FIG. 77. S. ABOUT I-5. 
COLLECTION OF MR. E. I. GUTHRIE, INDIANA. 



Nearly all the kinds of ornaments are shown in Mr. Guthrie's 
mounting. Two more types are presented in Figures 78 and of the 
smaller one (Fig. 79) a great variety exists, ranging from a small 
ear-pendant to irregular fragments of slate or other stone. They 
may be finished or not. 



8o 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




FIG. 78. S. I-3. FIG. 79. S. 1-2. 



Fig. 78. Cannel coal ornament. Found in a gravel pit along- 
side of a skeleton. Lima. Ohio. Ohio State University Collection. 

Fig- 79- Peculiar pendant. Cuttings are at right angles 
to the groin. Oxford Co., Ontario. 

" With the exception of the finer pipes there is no class of relics 
that appeals to the collector, especially to the amateur, as do the 
beautiful specimens that must be considered ornamental or em- 
blematic in character. They run through a wide range of form and 
material, though most of them are of the finest or most beautiful 
stone that was accessible to their fabricators. Many attempts have 
been made at a classification of these relics, but all have met with 
the insuperable objection, that, with very few exceptions, we are en- 
tirely ignorant of the uses to which they were put, and consequently, 
have no starting point from which to extend our system of nomen- 



SLA TE ORNAMENTS AND CEREMONIALS 



81 



clature. Even an attempt to name a few of the simpler forms pre- 
sents a difficulty almost at the outset ; for the different patterns 
graduate into each other imperceptibly, and there is no certain line 
of separation between specimens, which are, at first glance, entirely 
distinct from one another. 

"For example, as little as the flat, rectangular gorgets and the 
thin, hollowed, boat-shaped stones resemble each other, there is no 
possible graduation between the two shapes that may not be found 
in any tolerably well equipped museum. Even the cylindrical tubes 
and the thin, shapely butterfly banner stones may form the extremes 
of a series that shade into each other so insensibly that it is impos- 
sible to say where the one shape begins and the other ends. 

" A multitude of names have been invented by various authors 
under which they have attempted to bring hundreds of different 
things into one general system, but most of these terms are, and 
must be misleading in their character; for, as a rule, we have no 
means of knowing to what use the specimens were put by their 
makers. To call the flat, perforated stones gorget, because they are 
frequently found on the breasts of skeletons, and therefore probably 
answer the purpose for which such things have been worn in recent 
times, may be correct; but we have no warrant for saying that it is 
correct. We do not ourselves now make or use things so similar to 
the relics of our predecessors that we can classify our collections in 
the light of present knowledge ; we cannot even say what we would 
probably do with such articles if we made them, because we do 
not make them, and for the most part, never have made anything 
like them. 

"It would be a great help, not to collectors alone, but to the 
science of archaeology, if some one competent for the task would es- 
tablish an arbitrary system of nomenclature for all these things 
whose use is, and no doubt always will be, unknown. Such a method 
would be no more inexact than that which we are now compelled to 
use, and would at least have the merit of enabling one to understand 
to what an author referred when he used a particular term for a par- 
ticular specimen or type. We do not have this knowledge at the 
present time, for every writer on the subject has his own way of des- 
ignating whatever he wishes to describe, and thus we may have the 
same name given to two things that are entirely different, or have 
names not at all alike given to identical pieces. 



82 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



"Unfortunately, the perfect specimens that may be classed as or- 
namental, are very rare ; the material of which they are made is 
nearly always quite brittle, and the specimens are worked down to 
the last degree of thinness. Consequently, even if they may have 
been complete when lost or deposited with a body, the fragile sub- 
stance of which they are made almost certainly ensures their 
breakage by the pick of the digger, the hoofs of stock, or the imple- 
ment of the farmer. It is very seldom that a good specimen is to be 
found on the surface, and they are not much more common in graves. 
Broken, imperfect, or unfinished pieces, however, are very abundant, 
and for the purposes of the student are as valuable as the more per- 
fect ones — oftentimes more so, for there is less difficulty and ex- 
pense in getting them. " 




FIG. 80. S. 1-2. BUTTERFLY CEREMONIAL. REDDISH-BROWN, PURPLE 
SLATE. VERY DARK STREAKS. MILWAUKEE 
PUBLIC MUSEUM COLLECTION. 



Pendants — This term may be applied to almost any of the ar- 
ticles under discussion, but we propose to limit it here to the small, 
flat, rectangular specimens usually made of slate, and having a single 
perforation near one end. When found with skeletons they are 



SLA TE ORNAMENTS AND CEREMONIALS 



83 



almost invariably upon the breast, and the marks of wear about the 
perforation show that they were hung around the neck. 




FIG. 8[. S. I-3. UNFINISHED BUTTERFLY CEREMONIAL. 
EASTERN TYPE. ELLINGTON, N. Y. 




FIG. 82. 

CEREMONIAL, SIZE AND LOCALITY NOT GIVEN. PURPOSE UNKNOWN. 

Tablets or Gorgets — These are flat, generally four sided, but 
not often rectangular, being sometimes wider at or near the end, or 
having the sides curved either inwardly or the reverse. Often they 
are rudely decorated with incised lines which seem to have no 
special meaning. 



Chapter XII 



Ceremonials ; continued 



The most singular of all ornamental or ceremonial objects is the 
butterfly or banner stone. The word banner means very little; 
butterfly is much more appropriate to their form. There are 
few whole butterfly ceremonials throughout the United States. 
Nearly all of them are broken. Not one of the best-informed archae- 
ologists can tell you positively regarding their use. Dr. Wilson once 
gave the following explanation ; and while it is largely theoretical, 
yet it is as plausible as any advanced. He said I hat in prehistoric 
times he believed that each clan or tribe had a special totem or coat- 
of arms, as it .were. He said that as catlinite was a stone used 
among the tribes in historic times in pipe-making ; and that as it did 
not date back more than one hundred years before the discovery of 
America some object or some material must have occupied its place ; 
that at the time of La Salle's discovery of the Mississippi a large 
catlinite pipe was used by De Tonty as a symbol of peace and that 
whenever he exhibited it in descending the Mississippi, the symbol 
was both understood and respected. The authority said that this 
butterfly ceremonial was possibly used in prehistoric times as an 
emblem of peace, or as a mark of distinction observed by all the 
tribes of the Mississippi Valley. It could not be maintained, he said, 
that these ceremonials were used exclusively by a single tribe. 
Those of West Virginia, of Ohio, of Kentucky, of Illinois, and of 
Michigan are more or less alike, and the other village materials of 
these localities are vastly different. The type is very widespread, 
and therefore he would attach special significance to it. This was 
his opinion : and the readers may accept or reject it. 

Now the butterfly form as shown in Figs. 80 and 81 may be the 
highest, but there are kindred types. Note Fig. 83 for instance. 



CEREMONIALS 



85 





d 

FIG. 84. S. 1-2. 



The six objects from the collection of James Wier, Iowa, are 
very rare. 

a — Ornament with fluted ends. 



86 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



b — Rare ceremonial (?) perforated, curved and having a broad, 
sharp blade-edge. 

c — Unknown ceremonial. 

d — This object is of pyramid form perforated through like a 
" butterfly ceremonial " and also perforated from upper to lower 
surface. The archaeological wise men of the museums will have to 
name it. 

e — A long ornament, very nicely made. 




fig. 85. s. 1-2. 



Fig. 85. From Central Canada. Reproduced from : Notes on 
Primitive Man in Ontario," by David Boyle, Toronto. 1895. 

In regard to the great number of forms that are usually denom- 
inated " ceremonial" or "ornamental" objects, the descriptive name 
must suffice as explanation of the purpose for which they were made. 
If, at some distant future time, a person entirely ignorant of the rites 
and observances that are practiced in the secret societies of the 
present day, should stumble on a deposit containing all our various 
badges, insignia, tokens and emblems, and should learnedly en- 
deavor to construct from them a theory as to the system of religion 
of which they were the tangible evidences, it is possible that his 
monograph would not be much nearer the mark than some that have 



CEREMONIALS 



87 



appeared in explanation of what is indicated by the prevalence of 
such things among the Indians or other uncivilized tribes. 



Fig. 86 presents two very interesting specimens from the col- 
lection of Mr. Leslie W. Hills, Indiana. These are both of slate and 
were found in Indiana. It is suggested that the perforated crescents 
were worn upon the head in imitation of horns. This theory may be 
correct. 

Tubes — These are usually of slate, though many are found of 
sandstone, and, very rarely, one made of quartz, or similar hard 
stone. The preference seems to have been for a material that was 
susceptible of a high polish. As a rule they are cylindrical, though 
some have one side flattened or even grooved. They vary from an 
inch to six inches in length ; the majority, however, being less than 
four inches. The drilling was effected by means of a stick or cane, 
with sand. Unfinished specimens occur with a small core, showing 
the use of a cane or reed as a borer ; in others the hole ends in a de- 
pression that proves the use of a solid stick. It is often stated that 
water was supplied with the sand, but this is a mistake, as by the 





FIG. 86. S. 1-2. 



88 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



action of the water the stick would soon become soft and wear 
rapidly, thus clogging the cavity and retarding the work. The drill 
may have been revolved between the hand or the bow may have been 
employed. Of course two persons would be required to drill the 
longer or thinner specimens — one to work the drill, the other to 
steady the stone and direct the point of the instrument. 

The banded Huronian slate was a favorite stone for this, as for 
other forms of ornamental appendages. It is soft enough to be 
easily worked, takes a good polish, and some of the pieces are really 
beautiful in their variegated markings. Tubes were used among the 
Plains Indians (according to Catlin and Schoolcraft) by the medicine 
men for sucking evil spirits and disease from the bodies of the sick. 
Catlin goes into considerable detail regarding such practices of the 
Mandan doctors. Suppose a person ran a thorn into his foot and the 
sore had festered and become so inflamed that the subject was con- 
fined to his tepee. The doctor, having previously provided himself 
with a grub worm, a cricket, or some other insect would visit the 
patient and carry out, in the presence of the family, numerous incan- 
tations and ceremonies. A.s a last resort he applied the stone tube 
(which he drew from his medicine pouch at the proper moment) to 
the wound, and after much gesticulation, he would spit out the grub 
or cricket which he had previously concealed in his mouth. Of 
course, the family supposed that the worm was the evil spirit causing 
the disease. 

Since the tubes found generally throughout the Mississippi 
Valley are of the same form as those used among the Plains Tribes 
of historic times, it is not improbable that they were put to similar 
purposes. Many of them no doubt served as pipes, a stem being 
made of a small reed, hollow stick, or bone from the wing or leg of 
a bird. Others show at their end the marks of a cord by which they 
had been suspended, presumably from the neck of the owner. They 
have been called whistles, but such use is improbable, for any boy 
can emit a much louder and shriller whistle through his fingers than 
can be coaxed from one of these tubes. 

Odd Forms — There are pick-shaped ceremonials, short stone tubes 
called beads, coffin-shaped stones, plummets, and a host of other 
varieties whose functions cannot even be guessed. There are broad 
objects of slate, drilled through the center and sharpened at each 



CEREMONIALS 89 

edge ; these have often been called double-bitted axes, although not 
one of them could serve as an axe. 



Fig. 87. Side view of a decorated "spool". Use unknown. 
Found near Ripley, Ohio. 

Fig. 88. End view of a " spool ". 

Fig. 89. A. Rough stone mortar. Some shell beads — disc 
form — are shown in the mortar. 

B. Long celt of southern type. 

C Short celt with edge abruptly bevelled off. 

D. Broad cone-shaped stone (convex above, flat underneath). 

E. Just above the round stone (d) and near the corner of a 
celt is a typical ceremonial. 

F. A rude quarry axe or digging tool, grooved around the 
center. This type forms a connecting link between the notched 
axes and the rougher grooved axes. 

G. A typical grooved axe. 

H. One of the grinding or polishing stones mentioned by Dr. 
Steiner as common. 

I. A good specimen of a stone cup. 

J. Small, common celt, highly polished. 

K. Typical southern axe. No great difference in form between 
axes G and K. To the left of K is a very large spear-head The 
original of this must have been nine or ten inches long. 




fig. 87. s. 1-1. 



fig. 88. s. 1-1. 



CEREMONIALS 91 

L. Type of jar common in the South. Somewhat different 
from the Missouri and Tennessee forms. 

M. Peculiar wedge-shaped celt, the sides and top being 
squared. 

N. A discoidal stone is shown to the left of the celt, and to 
the right and just below is a common form of southern pipe. 
O. A peculiar flat stone, perforated. 



P. A decorated jar. Below specimens O and P is a long 
effigy pipe. 




FIG. 90. S. 1-2. THE JAS. WIER COLLECTION. 

A. Long ornament, one perforation and grooved. Unknown. 

B. Boat shaped ceremonial of granite. 

C. Ornament with lines cut across each end. 

D. Tube-like stone, unknown. 

In the center, typical Middle South banner-stone of white and 
pink quartz. Perforated. A fine object. 



Chapter XIII 



Shell and Bone Ornaments and Implements 



These objects were small and made, more or less, of perishable 
material, therefore they are seldom found except on village sites, or 
ash pits or in the mounds and graves. The subject is an interesting 
one, although the study of shell and bone objects has been sadly 
neglected by collectors. 

In the South-west, shells are used for a variety of purposes, the 
natives procuring many kinds of ocean shells from the Gulf of Cali- 
fornia and the Pacific Coast. It is easy to distinguish between shell 
objects of one portion of the United States and of another. But the 
bone awls are naturally more or less alike. Bone was not so uni- 
versally used for ornamentation as was shell. 

The illustrations presented, while somewhat inadequate, will 
give our readers a slight idea of the extent of this class of pre- 
historic relics. 





a — Bird effigy of shell, 
b — Finger ring of shell, 
c — Shell ornament. 



b 



It should be observed that a (by 
error) is shown twice the size of the 
original. The ring and shell pendant 
are full size. 




c 



FIG. 91. S. I-I. PHOENIX RUINS. 



SHELL AND BONE ORNAMENTS 



93 



b 




FIG. 92. S. I-I. 



a — Shell bracelet. Within it are shown two turquoise beads, 
b — Pottery disc, perforated, 
c — Shell ornament, 
d — Slate ornament. 

All from desert ruins near Phoenix, Ariz. 



SHELL AND BONE ORNAMENTS 



95 



Fig. 93 presents three typical bone awls from village sites, two 
fish-hooks, an arrow-shaped ornament of bone and two large shell 
ornaments. The shell ornament to the left is a rude imitation of a 
human face. In the South much more elaborately carved shells are 
found. They portray the human figure, the rattle-snake and other 
life-forms as well as cosmic symbols. 

a b 




f g h 

FIG. 93A. SHELL AND CLAY OBJECTS FROM STONE GRAVES, TENN. 
S. ABOUT 1-6. 

a, is a typical cooking bowl, 4 handles. 

b, a small bowl; the bottom is pointed instead of rounded. 

c, an artificially shaped human cranium. (Some of our tribes 
compressed the skulls of infants.) 



96 PREHISTORIC RELICS 

d, an engraved shell. 

e, an engraved shell or mask with perforations. 

f, a string of large bone beads. 

g, a very finely carved shell. 

h, a clay ladle. A long bone awl is near it. 

i, a long string of small beads. 

j-d, shelf. A long bone awl, a pipe, 3 engraved shells and 2 
shell pins. These latter are common in the middle South, and were 
hair-pins. 

k-c, shelf. Some interesting pottery of rather old form. At k, 
double bowl. 

The southern heads are much larger than those of other sections. 

Fig. 94 shows 24 shell beads or small ornaments from various 
portions of the United States. The illustration (a composite made 
up of several figures) is taken from Art in Shell of the Ancient Amer- 
icans, by Prof. Holmes, Bureau of Ethnology Report, '81. 

No. 1. Mound, Lick Creek, Tenn. Common from the Mis- 
sissippi to the Hudson. 

No. 2. Santa Cruz Island, Cal. 

No. 3. Mound, Prairie Du Chien, Wis. 

No. 4, 9. Mound, Sevierville, Tenn. 

No. 5, 6. Cal., New Mex. 

No. 7. Grave, Lynn, Mass. 

No. 8. Northwest Coast. 

No. 10. Mound, Southern Ills. 

No. 11 to 15. Mounds, Tenn. 

No. 15. Maryland. 

No. 16, 20. From various localities. 

No. 21. Mound, Cocke Co., Tenn. 

No. 22. Pacific Coast. 

No. 23. Arizona. 

No. 24. A fossil used as a bead. 



SHELL AND BONE ORNAMENTS 



97 




FIG. 94. 



Fig. 95 is from the collection of Mr. James Pillars, Ohio. It 
was found in a mound, Mercer Co., Ohio. There are three perfo- 
rations. It was cut from a large unio shell. Mr. John N. Hodgin, of 
Indiana, found some fifteen or twenty shell ornaments like this one 
in a grave. 



9 8 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




FIG. 95. S. 1-3. 

Dr. William Beauchamp. an authority on Iroquois relics, both 
ancient and modern, has published a series of bulletins which deal 
with shell objects and bone implements. We quote from Dr. 
Beauchamp as follows : — 

" The use of shells for ornaments and money is so well known 
that no discussion of the subject is required here.* The aborigines 
of North America had the common primitive taste, but could not 
fully gratify it until the white man came. Some shells they were 
able to work in a simple way, but few of these have been preserved. 
Under some circumstances they kept well, but they could not stand 
much exposure. Pearly shells resisted best, while those in which 
white lime was the principal element soon lost their polish, and 
often their form. 

" The Aborigines of the Pacific states had the Dentalium for 

money and ornament, but used the iridescent Haliotis to a great 

extent. The Indians of the Plains depended mainly on the eastern 

coast for what they used. A few northern shells were available, but 

the material for a large proportion of New York articles came from 

the south Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico. These were most 

in use in the historic period. Few from the southern coast which 

are over 300 years old have been found here. Except as beads, 

shells were little used as ornaments in New York before that time. 

Yet this state was celebrated for the abundance of its wampum 250 

years ago, partly from the stimulus given to its manufacture by the 

whites, and partly from the numbers and large size of one mollusk, 

by which it was supplied. 

* From the Balle f in of the New York State Museum. Wampum and Shell 
Articles, by William M. Beauchamp, Albany, 1901. 



SHELL AND BONE ORNAMENTS 



99 



" ' Before the Europeans came to North America the Indians 
used to make their strings of wampum chiefly of small pieces of 
wood of equal size, stained with black and white. Few were made 
of mussels, which were esteemed very valuable and difficult to make ; 
for, not having proper tools, they spent much time in finishing them, 
and yet their work had a clumsy appearance. But the Europeans 
soon contrived to make strings of wampum, both neat and elegant, 
in abundance. These they bartered with the Indians for other 
goods, and found this traffic very advantageous. The Indians imme- 
diately gave up the use of the old wooden substitutes for wampum 
and procured those made of mussels, which, though fallen in price, 
were always accounted valuable. Formerly they used to give 
sanction to their treaties by delivering a wing of some large bird, 
and this custom still prevails among the more western nations in 
transacting business with the Delawares. But the Delawares them- 
selves, the Iroquois, and those nations in league with them, are now 
sufficiently provided with handsome and well wrought strings and 
belts of wampum.' " — Loskiel, page 26. 

Awls and Knives 

" It is quite propable that many small bone articles commonly 
called awls were really used for arrow points, and some have re- 
garded the large and sometimes massive forms as daggers. In the 
paucity of stone arrowheads and knives on many Iroquois sites of 
the Sixteenth century, such uses seem reasonable, and have much to 
support them in the notes of early discoverers. * * * * Frequent 
small awls are also found which are but sharpened splinters of bone, 
as well described by words as figures. The outline of the tool often 
means nothing. The point of the awl is the only essential thing. 
In considering the better finished articles of all kinds, it is to be re- 
membered that these are but a selection of typical forms out of 
thousands which have individuality, constantly varying in one way 
or another. 

" Then there are forms which have a rounded point, not adapted 
for piercing or any other known purpose. These are usually of horn, 
and are commonly classed with awls, though often termed punches. 
It may be best to assign them this name here, though this places 
them with cylindrical articles usually having rounded ends. While 



Ufa 



too 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



they differ in form from these, they seem to belong nowhere else ; 
and even then we do not know their use. 

" While a warlike character has been contended for in the case 
of some of the larger and longer forms, some persons have seen in 
the more slender examples pins, either for the hair or apparel. The 
latter supposition is questionable in most cases ; and those of great 
length and sharpness would have been neither comfortably nor 
safely worn in the hair. Some may be assigned to this use. Many 
combine a broad knifelike form with the sharp point of an awl, if 
such they are. They seem not sharp enough for cutting, but would 
have been useful in skinning an animal. Among the Iroquois stone 
axes or celts were not abundant, and were probably prized. For 
deer-skinning the bone knife did just as well. It was lighter, more 
easily made, was sometimes distinct, but often combined the awl 
point with it, as our pocket knives practically do." * 

Besides awls, needles and punches in bone or horn, celts, 
scrapers and club-heads have been found on village sites. As these 
are so seldom obtained by collectors, it is not necessary to illustrate 
them here. 

* Horn and Bone I?nfilements of the New York Indians. Wm. M. Beauchamp, 
S. T. D. page 254. Albany, 1902. 



Chapter XIV 



Bicaves and Plummets 

Dr. Snyder, the well-known archaeologist, prepared a paper on 
bicave stones for Prehistoric Implements (pp. 163-7) an d as we 
heartily concur in all his opinions, we reproduce it here — with a few 
omissions. 

The urgent need of the science of archaeology at the present 
time is a revision of its nomenclature ; especially in the classification 
of prehistoric stone implements. Such uncouth and meaningless 
names as "spuds," " bunts," " banner stones"; and the vague and in- 
definite terms, " ceremonials," " discoidal stones," " amulets," etc., 
should be discarded from our archaeological vocabulary, and re- 
placed with names conveying some specific idea of the form, di- 
mensions, or use of the objects. " Leaf-shaped", applied to certain 
chipped flints, is another absurdity, and about as precise for de- 
scriptive purposes as is "a chunk of rock" as a measure of magni- 
tude ; for there are leaves of many diverse forms, and we are at a 
loss to know what particular shape of leaf is implied. 

The term " discoidal stone " is equally ambiguous and con- 
fusing ; for among aboriginal stone relics, disc-like, or circular, stones 
of almost every size and variety occur, differing so widely in di- 
mensions and details of figure as to render their classification under 
one title bewildering and misleading. Waterworn pebbles, circular 
and flat, or disc-like, were abundant and ready at hand almost every- 
where — by the lake shores or sand bars in every stream, and among 
the gravel beds of the drift formation — requiring but little modifi- 
cation by primitive savages to adapt them to use. And, we know, 
they were utilized in many ways, each of the modified forms serving, 
perhaps, a distinct and different purpose. 



102 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




FIG. 96. S. I-3. TYPICAL DISCOIDALS FROM VARIOUS LOCALITIES. 

116. Yellow, brown ferruginous quartz, Tennessee. 

2. Dark greenstone, from a mound, Illinois. 

3. Quartzite, Georgia. 

4. Argillite, Pennsylvania. 

5. Not given. 

6. Brown ferruginous quartz, Tennessee. 

7. Quartzite, Ohio. 

8. Quartzite, Ohio. 

This cut is from " A Study of Prehistoric Anthropology." Dr. 
Thomas Wilson, Smithsonian Report, '87— '8. 



BICAVES AND PLUMMETS 



103 



In our archaeological literature the generic term " discoidal " is 
applied indiscriminately to all round, non-spherical objects of stone, 
shell, bone, hematite, or pottery ; including ornaments a fraction 
larger than beads, spindle whorls, club heads, hammer stones, and a 
host of others of unknown uses. It is time, I think, that we should 
adopt a more distinctive classification of these circular art relics of 
the stone age. The best known type of so-called discoidal stones — 
the type most generally referred to by that designation — is circular 
in contour, varying in width, thickness and material ; and has cupped, 
or mortar-like depressions on each lateral surface ; in some broad 
and shallow, and in others narrow and deep ; and in a few so deep 
as to coalesce and perforate the stone. 

As the bilateral, saucer-like cavities on each side are character- 
istic of this type of disc-like stones, I would suggest, for convenience 
of description, its separation from all others of the group of round, 
flat, prehistoric relics now bunched together as " discoidals," and 
call them bicave stones, or bicaves, from the Latin binus, two, or 
double, and the noun cavum, a concavity, or hollow ; or the verb cavo, 
I hollow, or scoop. This name, in my opinion, would be far more 
expressive of the shape and peculiar conformation of the object than 
its present inexact appellation. To further specify that the bicave 
stone is discoidal, would be superfluous, as all bicaves, with rare ex- 
ceptions are round or disc-like. 

When asked to what use the bicave stones were applied, the 
ready answer is, for playing games. How is this known ? It is not 
known ; but merely inferred from the accounts of early observers 
among certain recent Indian tribes who saw them playing games in 
which a round, flat stone was used. The impression that the hurling 
stones employed by modern Indians in these games were the iden- 
tical bicaves in question, is so general, and so stated with such posi- 
tiveness by certain writers, that it has become accepted as the true 
solution of the problem of the bicave stone's utility. An examination 
of the facts will, however, tend to dissipate this belief, and convince 
us that those strange and beautiful relics were not made for that 
purpose. It is altogether probable that, in some instances, modern 
Indians found prehistoric bicave stones, as we do, and adapted them 
to their games, as I have seen here, in Illinois, in early days, school 
boys use them as quoits for pitching, in the game of quoits. 



104 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




FIG. 97. S. 1-2. 
BICAVE, PERFORATED. LOCALITY NOT STATED. 

The Indian game, in which round hurling stones were an impor- 
tant feature, has been seen and described by several early explorers ; 
among whom was Adair, who has given us a concise, and, no doubt, 
accurate account of it, as follows : " The warriors have another 
favorite game called Chungke, which, with propriety of language, 
may be called ' Running hard labor.' They have near their state 
house a square piece of ground well cleared, and fine sand is care- 
fully strewed over it, when requisite, to promote a swifter motion to 
what they throw along the surface. Only one or two on a side play 
in this ancient game. They have a stone about two fingers broad at 
the edge, and two spans around ; each party has a pole of about 
eight feet long, smooth, and tapering at each end, the points flat. 
They set off abreast of each other at six yards from the end of the 
playground ; then one of them hurls the stone on its edge, in as 
direct a line as he can, a considerable distance toward the middle of 
the other end of the square ; when they have run a few yards, each 
darts his pole, anointed with bear's oil, with a proper force, as near 
as he can guess in proportion to the motion of the stone, that the 
end may lie close to the stone ; when this is the case, the person 
counts two of the game, and, in proportion to the nearness of the 
poles to the marks, one is counted, unless by measuring, both are 
found to be at an equal distance from the stone. * * * * The 
hurling stones they use at present were, time immemorial, rubbed 



BICA VES A ND PL UMME TS 105 

smooth on the rocks, and with prodigious labor ; they are kept with 
the strictest religious care from one generation to another, and are 
exempted from being buried with the dead. They belong to the 
town where they are used, and are carefully preserved." Captain 
Bernard Romaines (1775) says the hurling stone with which the 
Indians play the game of Chungke " is in shape of a truck," i. e. a 
small wheel; and Dr. Pratz (1774) describes it as a "flat, round 
stone, about three inches in diameter, and an inch thick, with the 
edge somewhat sloping." Lieutenant Timberlake (1765) says it is 
" a round stone, with one flat side, and the other convex." Catlin, 
who saw the game played much later, says the hurling stone used 
was a " round stone ring." 

It will be noticed that none of these writers, who describe the 
Indian game, mention the hurling stone as having lateral indentions. 
Those Adair saw used, " two fingers broad at the edge," were cer- 
tainly not of the common form of bicaves represented by Figure 96. 
He says the Chungke stones were not buried with the dead ; but it is 
well known that bicave stones frequently were so deposited. I have 
one taken by myself from a stone grave in Tennessee ; another I 
exhumed from an aboriginal cemetery in southeastern Missouri, and 
several others recovered from mounds and graves near the Illinois 
river. Judging the prehistoric Indians by their descendents of re- 
cent times, we may well rest assured that they were not so fond of 
labor as to carve, from the hardest rocks, and beautifully finish, the 
bicave stones, and grind out the hollows on each side with such care 
and precision, without some well-defined purpose. No Indian would 
ever have bestowed the arduous work required to make these 
cavities, and to round the edges of the stone, and finely polish it, 
that in the silly and stupid game of chungke would be entirely use- 
less ; when a plain round stone, with flat, or convex sides, would 
answer the purpose better. Not one of the bicave stones presents 
abrasions, or marks of attritions about its periphery, that would in- 
variably be present had it been used by hurling on a hard clay or 
sandy surface. Many of these strange relics, by reason of their 
diminutive size, and the fragile material of which they have been 
formed, could not possibly have been used in any such game as 
Chungke. They range in diameter from one inch, to six or eight 
inches ; and in material from clay to the most refractory crystalline 



io6 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



rocks. In my collection is one, of quartz crystal, but a fraction over 
an inch in diameter ; another, a little larger, is of hard white clay 
unbaked ; several have been found in this state moulded from 
pottery ware, or clay, burned, and smoothly polished ; and one, from 
an Illinois river mound, was sculptured from bituminous shale, and 
finished to a glossy polish. They all have the bilateral cavities, and 
the same purpose was evidently the motive in the manufacture of all. 



It is possible that some of them were gaming devices; but 
surely if they all were so employed, considering the vast numbers of 
them found, gambling must have been the sole occupation of the 
native American. General Thurston says, " very great numbers of 
them must have been used in Tennessee; " and all writers on pre- 
historic remains in the Mississippi valley mention their numerous 
presence. To my personal knowledge more than three hundred of 
them have been found within a radius of twenty miles around 
Beardstown, on the Illinois river, and they have occurred about in 
this proportion throughout the valley of the lower Illinois, and 
borders of the Mississippi. They are here most commonly found 
about the old village sites and camping places, associated with stone 
and bone implements and camp refuse. I have two small bicave 
stones that were turned up by the plow in this (Cass) county, on old 
Indian camp sites, several miles apart, having in one hollow of each 
a smooth waterworn pebble. The contact of the stone and pebble 
may have been accidental ; or may be evidence that the two were 
used together in gaming, or some other purpose ; but, in both 
cases, the two had been so long together that the calcareoferruginous 




FIG. 98. S. NOT GIVEN. 



ANOTHER FORM OF BICAVE. SOUTHEASTERN MO. 



BICA VES AND PLUMMETS 107 

earth in which they were imbedded cemented them so firmly that 
some force was necessary to separate them. 




The old idea sometimes still advanced, that bicave stones were 
intended for paint mortars, is scarcely worthy of notice. Only an 
idiot would think of making a mortar on opposite sides of the same 
rock; or excavating, for that purpose, both sides of a circular stone 
but an inch in diameter ; or of constructing a mortar of clay, pottery 
or shale. The cavities of the finished bicaves are never striated, or 
roughened, as would be the case if brought in contact with stone 
pestles ; but present the regularity of proportions, and smoothness of 
surface, that could only be produced by a rotating instrument, prob- 
ably of wood. In a few of the bicave stones it seems that this rotary 
grinding process continues as long as they were in use, gradually 
carrying the cavities down deeper ; but in the greater number the 
cavities were evidently sunk to the specified depth to fit them for 
their intended use, and then polished. Occasionally in one, or both 
cavities of a stone are seen incised lines in the form of a bird's track, 
which, no doubt, had some significant meaning connected with the 
stone's office. It is often the case that these stones are found — as 
are sometimes celts, grooved axes, etc., — saturated, or heavily 
coated, with oily pigment, accumulated apparently by long contact 
with animal fat. If one in this condition is boiled in water or sub- 
jected to an immersion in a concentrated solution of sal soda for a 
few hours, the greasy matter will be extracted and seen floating on 
the. surface of the liquid, and the stone will be clean and bright as in 
its original natural state. This fact, together with their great 
numbers, their wide distribution, their various dimensions, forms, 
and degrees of fine finish, and their presence in old village sites and 



io8 



PREHISTORIC REIICS 



camp refuse, strongly suggests the probability of their economic use 
as domestic implements. To me they are the most incomprehensible 
of all prehistoric relics. In our ignorance of primitive Indian life we 
know of no industry or art practised requiring these round bicave 
stones. They cannot reasonably be placed in either of these illy- 
defined and questionable classes styled " ceremonials," " charms," 
or " talismans "; nor can we assign them to the category of orna- 
ments, or weapons. Were they tools of the potter, weaver, or 
basket maker ? 




FIG. 99 A. S. ABOUT 1-2. LOCALITY UNKNOWN. 
BICAVE AND CROSS SECTION OF SAME. 



BICAVES AND PLUMMETS 



109 



Plummets 

These are found in all sizes and materials — slate, shell, sand- 
stone, hematite and granite. Fig. 100 is the long slender form of 
plummet made of banded slate. Fig. 101 is a short thick plummet 
of granite. Sometimes the plummets are flattened on one side. 
Many theories have been advanced, but as yet we cannot say with 
assurance what purposes plummets served in aboriginal life. 




fig. 100. s. 1-1. fig. 101. s. 1-1. 

NEAR DAYTON, O. CATAHOULA, LA. 



TWO TYPES OF PLUMMETS. 



Chapter XV 



Pipes 

In the Archaeologist for July, August, and September, 1894, 
appeared a paper written by Mr. A. F. Berlin and descriptive of 
many pipe forms. It is so excellent that we shall reprint portions of 
it here. 

The first to mention will be the "monitor" shaped, of those 
pipes having a flat or slightly curved base with the bowl, often plain 
and round, which is called its simple or primitive form, projecting 
from the centre, and through one end of which was drilled a narrow 
hole, about the size of a straw, to the hollow of the bowl, serving as 
a mouth-piece, while the other end at the same time did well as a 
handle held by the smoker.* The carved specimens are often of an 
elaborate form, representing the human head, animals, birds, and 
reptiles. Squier and Davis figure in Ancient Monuments a pipe 
of this type with a plain bowl, around which is encircled a serpent. 
They found this peculiar type of pipe in considerable numbers while 
surveying the ancient earth-works in Ohio, and have described and 
figured them in Volume I, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. 
Since then many other fine specimens have been discovered. From 
one of the hearths of a number of mounds, situated four miles north 
of Chillicothe, Ohio, these explorers took nearly 200 stone pipes of 
this peculiar form, many of which were damaged by the action of 
fire.t The material from which most all these pipes were made is 
said to be a compact slate, argillaceous ironstone, ferruginous 
chlorite and calcareous mineral, for which information the writer is 
indebted to the valuable work entitled " Flint Chips ", by E. T. 
Stevens. This test was made on a number found by Squier and 

*The Smithsonian, Peabody, Field Columbian, and seven State Museums 
contain a total of over five hundred of these " monitor" or "platform " pipes. 

t These were nearly all effigy pipes. The Blackmore Museum, near London, 
now contains them. They constitute the finest exhibit of American pipes from 
one locality in the world. 



PIPES 



1 1 1 



Davis, and belonging to the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury, Eng- 
land, by Prof. A. H. Church, who found them to consist of the 
softer materials above described. 




fig. 102. s. 2-7. 



Illustrating thirty-three pipes from Mr. H. P. Hamilton's Collec- 
tion, Wisconsin. 



112 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



No. i — Wisconsin. Stone with short platform. 

_._ . ) Clay. Found on same farm. Rare in 

No. 2 — Wisconsin. [ . . , . 

>■ Wisconsin. Both of these are or the 

J trumpet form. 

No. 4 — Disk, Catlinite, Wisconsin. 

No. 5 — " 

No. 6 — Minnesota. Catlinite. 
No. 7 — Wisconsin. " 
No. 8 — 

No. 9 — Tube. Oregon. 

No. io — Michigan. 

No. ii — Wisconsin. 

No. 12 — " 

No. 13 — Michigan. 

No. 14 — Wisconsin. Catlinite. 

No. 15 — " Broken, platform type. 

No. 16 — Minnesota. Catlinite. 

No. 17 — Oregon. Tube. 

No. 18 — Wisconsin. 

No. 19 — 

No. 20 — " 

No. 21- 

No. 22 — Tube. Oregon. 
No. 23 — Michigan. 
No. 24 — Wisconsin. 
No. 25 — Tube. Oregon. 
No. 26 — Wisconsin. 
No. 27 — Oregon. 
No. 28 — Oregon. 
No. 29 — Wisconsin. 
No. 30 — 

No. 31 — " Catlinite. 
No. 32 — Oregon. 
No. 33 — 

The supposition that many of these pipe are close imitations of 
some of the fauna found in the United States is refuted by other 
archaeologists and naturalists who claim that although Squier and 
Davis go so far in their admiration (Ancient Monuments, p. 272,) as 



PIPES 



ii3 



to say that, so far as fidelity is concerned, many of them (i. e. animal 
carvings) deserve to rank by the side of the best efforts of the artist 
naturalists in our own day — a statement which is simply prepos- 
terous. So far, in point of fact, is this from being true, that an 
examination of the series of animal sculptures cannot fail to convince 
any one, who is even tolerably well acquainted with our common 
birds and animals, that it is simply impossible to recognize specific 
features in the great majority of them. They were either not 
intended to be copies of particular species, or, if so intended, the 
artist's skill was wholly inadequate for his purpose/' (Henshaw in 
Animal Carvings from the Mounds of the Mississippi Valley, Annual 
Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, i88o-'8i, p. 148.) 

These mound pipes, so-called because the greater part of them 
have been taken from mounds, and, which it is asserted, were only 
made in or near the present State of Ohio, are nearly all of small 
size, and remarkable for the small capacity of the bowl.* This 
feature is noticeable also in other pipes about to be described. 

There are other forms of animal pipes made in imitation of 
birds, mammals, and amphibians ; and sometimes the human figure, 
which are distinct from the so-called " mound " or " monitor " type. 
They are in very nearly all cases large and unwieldly objects, and no 
doubt belong to the order of "calumet " pipes, used on occasions or 
ceremony or in solemn meetings, in the forming of treaties ; the 
ceding of lands, etc. We all know that on such occasions the pipe, 
with its attending tobacco, played a principal part, and nothing 
could be done without its presence. 

Another very rare type of pipes are the specimens called "disc 
pipes " ; so named because the bowl is a broad horizontal disc, 
several inches in diameter, resting on a rectangular base or stem 
which projects some distance beyond the bowl. In the writer's 
collection is a catlinite pipe of this type plowed up in a field in the 
vicinity of a mound near Elmira, Stark County, Illinois. This 
figured in Edwin A. Barber's article on " Catlinite " in the American 
Naturalist, Vol. xvii, p. 754. This writer says of it: "This pipe, 
which is carved from a single piece of stone, although not unique in 

* This type exists in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, West Virginia, 
Kentucky, and rarely in Tennessee, Eastern Missouri and Arkansas. It seems 
confined to a region three hundred and fifty miles in diameter, having Cincinnati 
as its center. 



H4 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



form, may be considered a rare type." The bowl, which is much 
smaller than the orifice in the stem, was intended to hold tobacco, 
mixed probably with other herbs having narcotic properties, the 
smoking and perhaps inhalation of which produced a sensation akin 
to intoxication or exhilaration. Mr. Barber mentions four other 
pipes of similar form belonging to different cabinets, and all made of 
the same material. 




FIG. I03. S. 2-3. 



Fig. 103, a group of peculiar cylinder or tubular pipes from an 
ancient burial ground near Willoughby, Ohio, on the shores of Lake 
Erie. These pipes are found in the St. Lawrence Basin more than 
in the Ohio Valley. The mask to the right is interesting, although 
it may be modern, as the chin is ornamented with a cross. 

Catlinite played an important part in the manufacture of pipes, 
and was undoubtedly used by the North American Indians for 
hundreds of years. The mineral was named after Mr. George 
Catlin, who was the first white man allowed by the Indians to visit 
the red pipe-stone quarry in 1836. It is situated in what is now 
Pipestone County, Minnesota. A vivid and interesting description 



PIPES 



ii5 



of this excursion is given by Mr. Catlin in "Catlin's Indian Gallery ", 
in Smithsonia?t Report for 1885, part 2, p. 240. It may interest my 
readers to quote from his musings while at the quarry : — 

" Here (according to their traditions) happened the mysterious 
birth of the red pipe, which has blown its fumes of peace and war to 
the remotest corners of the Continent ; which has visited every warrior, 
and passed through its reddened stem the irrevocable oath of war 
and desolation. And here, also, the peace-breathing calumet was 
born and fringed with the eagle's quills, which has shed its thrilling 
fumes over the land and soothed the fury of the relentless savage." 

Clay or terra cotta pipes, from the size of a thimble to those 
having a capacity of one and even two ounces, and of various and 
diversified designs, have been found in abundance in every section. 
They are, however, in a perfect condition, not numerous. This is 
easily accounted for. They used in the manufacture of these clay 
smoking utensils the same material as that from which their pottery 
was made, which appears to have a mixture of sand, clay, and 
broken or pounded shells. The pipe of this material was no doubt 
mostly used by the aborigine for smoking purposes. 




fig. 104. s. 1-2. 



Typical Iroquois pipe of clay. Found near Trenton, Ontario. 



n6 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



Speaking of the great rarity of pipes in New Jersey, the same of 
which can also be said of Eastern Pennsylvania, Dr. C. C. Abbott 
writes in Smithsonian Report for 1875, P< 343 : ''The comparative 
rarity of aboriginal smoking pipes is easily explained by the fact 
that they were not discarded as were the weapons, when those by 
whom they were fashioned entered upon the iron age. The ad- 
vances of the whites in no way lessened the demand for pipes, nor did 
the whites substitute a better-made implement; therefore, the pipes 
were retained, and used until worn out or broken, excepting such as 
were buried with their deceased owners. What was the ultimate fate 
of these can only be conjectured. Certain it is that in every instance 
an Indian grave in New Jersey does not contain a pipe. If the 
practice of burying the pipe with its owner was common, we must 
believe that the graves were opened and robbed of this coveted 
article by members of the same or some other tribe." This may be 
objected to on account of recognition of the stolen property, but 
" we do not think the fear of detection deterred the ancient grave 
robber." The circular, trumpet-like bowl form of pipe appears to be 
the more prevalent New York form of this clay implement. I am 
indebted for this information to Rev. W. M. Beauchamp, who also 
tells us in his article, " Comparison of Relics in Ontario and 
New York," American A?itiquarian, Vol. xii, p. 170. The country 
of the Petuns who raised tobacco for sale, may have furnished pipes 
for the smokers as well. The Mauquawwop, or man-eaters, probably 
Mohawks, were pipe makers, which they bartered with other Indian 
tribes as far as three or four hundred miles away. The Delaware 
Indians bartered pipes from other Indian nations living on and be- 
yond the Mississippi River. The Catawbas, who lived in the 
western part of Southern Carolina, were makers of pipes, and they 
exchanged them with the neighboring tribes for raw skins. The 
Natchez and kindred tribes excelled in the manufacture of pipes, 
etc., which they bartered among themselves, and Cabeca de Vaca 
found among the Indians of Texas, a dealer in flint and other articles 
which he procured in the interior, and brought to the Indians on the 
coast to either exchange or sell." For the above interesting in- 
formation the writer is indebted to Mr. Lucien Carr's very val- 
uable paper " The Mounds of the Mississippi Valley, Historically 
Considered." 



PIPES 



117 



Fig. 105 shows two effigy pipes. Both are of fine-grained sand- 
stone. The frog was found at Waynesville, Ohio, and is well made, 
and weighs five pounds. Many fine pipes have been taken from 
graves in gravel knolls. Several observers are of the opinion that 
gravel knolls or glacial kame burials represented a different tribe 
from those of the mounds. 




fig. 105. s. about 1-3. 



At first glance the pipe to the left looks like a mastodon, but 
it doubtless represents a bird. Both pipes are in the Moorehead 
Collection, Ohio State University Museum. We are indebted to the 
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society for the loan of this 
cut. 

Tubular Pipes — These long, cylindrical, funnel-shaped objects 
having the appearance of our modern cigar-holders in an exaggerated 
form, and measuring from one and one fourth inches to very nearly a 
foot in length, are found in many sections of the United States. They 
are common in southern California and the islands along the Pacific 
Coast. They seem to be more numerous in California than else- 
where. Bone, copper, stone and clay were the materials used in 



u8 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




FIG. 105 A. S I-I. 



In Monroe County. Ark., two large effigy pipes were discovered. 
They are distinctly southern and not like those of the Ohio Valley or 
the Lakes. Dr. Thomas says of this one that it is of quartzite, par- 
tially polished, and represents a kneeling, naked individual. 



PIPES 



19 



their manufacture. Sixteen of these nicely wrought implements 
taken from graves at Dos Pueblos and La Patera are shown in 
Vol. 7, Archaeology Report of U. S. Geographical Surveys, west of 
one hundredth meridian, Lieutenant George Wheeler in charge. A 
number of them still contain the mouth-pieces made from the small, 
hollow bone, either from the wing or leg of a bird, which were 
secured into the tube by asphaltum. They are all made from a soft, 
soapy stone called steatite. 




Fig. 106. Collection of 
Mr. A. J. Powers, Iowa. Found 
in Central Georgia. A very 
fine pipe and exceedingly rare 
and well made. 



Fig. 107. Effigy pipe 
from Bartow County, Ga. 



fig. 106. s. 1-5. 



FIG. 107. S. I-5. 



The late Paul Shumaker, in a note sent to Peabody Museum, 
Cambridge, Mass., describes them as follows : " The pipe is a funnel- 
shaped tube like a thick, enlarged modern cigar-holder, with an 
opening usually over an inch at the wide end, which narrows to one- 
third of an inch towards the other one of corresponding decreased 
thickness. The hole was drilled from both ends, but only to a short 
distance from the smaller, and the mouth of the pipe was then en- 



120 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



larged by scraping parallel with the longer axis. As a mouth-piece, 
which protrudes about an inch, a piece of a wing or leg-bone of 
some bird was inserted and tightly secured with asphaltum. The 
pipe was usually made of steatite, and is sometimes neatly finished. 
Among the Klamatlis of the present day a pipe of like form is 
smoked, and it amused me to see them bending back their heads to 
bring the pipe in a vertical position so as not to lose any tobacco 
(which I found a sickening narcotic ; they smoke still the native 
tobacco, nicotina attenuatd) while taking a long draught, which was 
inhaled to longer enjoy the short opportunity, as the pipe must be 
passed on." 

Mr. Douglass owns over three hundred North American pipes, 
and he writes : 

" I may venture to say a word as to the scanty of pipes with 
bowls set angularly upon the stem among the Indian tribes occu- 
pying Mexico and the Central iVmerican States, at the time of and 
subsequent to the advent of the Europeans. 

" Throughout the area of the United States such pipes have 
been found abundantly, and their characteristics are well known to 
collectors, but as we go southward on the continent through Mexico 
and Central America, they become most rare, and are seldom to be 
seen or studied." 

There is another kind of pipe which the writer has almost failed 
to mention. This is the form called the "inverted bottle-stopper." 
They are short and clumsy ; small at the top and large at the bottom. 
They are exceedingly rare. 

The pipe carved to imitate the head of the human being is also 
considered a distinct type, but the writer has placed them with the 
pipes which are carved to represent the human form. All types 
representing life may be called effigies.* 

Figure 108 presents a group of characteristic pipes. No. i, an 
effigy with curved base. This is of the same type as found by 
Squier and Davis in such large numbers at Mound City, Ross 
County, Ohio. No. 2 and No. 4, monitor or platform pipes, common 
throughout the Ohio Valley. No. 3, a pipe with curved base. The 
specimen is rarely found save in Illinois, Kentucky, and West 



* End of Mr. Berlin's article. 



PIPES I2I 

Virginia, and it is not common there. No. 5 and No. 7 ordinary 
L-shaped pipes having stems exhibiting various angles. No. 7 and 
No. 10 are manifestly modern, No. 9 is the disk pipe referred to by 
Mr. McGuire as modern. We are of the opinion that some of these 
disk pipes may be ancient, but doubtless many of them are modern. 
No. 11 is often found in Illinois and West Virginia and in the South. 




fig. 108. s. 1-4. 



Fig. 109. A large duck pipe in the possession of Mr. W. F. Parker 
of Omaha, Nebraska. It is not quite three times the size of the illus- 
tration, and was found near Lookout Mountain, Tenn., many years 
ago. It is a typical council pipe, made of dark, bluish green steatite 
and will hold a large handful of tobacco. 

Four others are of platform type. The large one is very rare, 
there being but about five or five specimens in the country of this 
size. One is exhibited by the Smithsonian Institution ; another by 
Mr. Parker. The bowl is about 7 inches in length and 1 1-2 inches 
in diameter, and would hold a large quantity of tobacco. The plat- 
form is 4 inches in width and about 14 inches long. The small one 
in the foreground is of black steatite and highly polished. It was 
found in Southern Kentucky. 

Over the duck pipe is one of clay from Romney, W. Va. In 
the centre is a small effigy pipe of black stone. 



PIPES 



123 



In portions of Canada human faced clay pipes are not rare and 
occur more frequently than representations of animals. Sometimes, 
on the square mounted pipe bowls, there will be a miniature mask at 
each corner, and occasionally this is reduced to the three conven- 
tional masks for eyes and mouth. The trumpet type is modified 
often by having a square or many sided top, with small and 
various decorations on the rim. Some of these plain cornet pipes 
have a very large, wide mouthpiece several inches across, and some 
have a beautiful gloss, nearly as fine as a polish, and vary in color 
from light reddish yellow to jet black, and are far more numerous 
than the whole gamut of ornamented pipes.* 



Mr. J. D. McGuire t places the monitor pipe as later. The 
simple bowl and face-shaped pipes in the Middle South ; also the 
peculiar form of a round or angular bowl and short round base, 
which he calls Southern Mound type ; the disk or jewsharp pipe 
and the biconial, the tubular and the heavy, broad form, etc., as 
earlier. He illustrates all of these forms. 



* See Ont. Arch. Reports, and Beauchamp's Bulletin on New York earthen- 
ware. 

t " Pipes and Smoking Customs." Smithsonian Report, 1897. 




Pipe broken; then 
drilled and fastened together. 
Quite rare. 



fig. no. s. 1-2. 



I 2 4 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




Fig. 1 02. A very finely carved and remarkable pipe from Mont- 
gomery Co., Ky. Collection of Col. Bennett H. Young, Louisville. 



Chapter XVI 



Pottery 

The Mississippi Valley is famous for the great perfection attained 
in ceramic art. Its pottery is only excelled by that of the Cliff and 
Pueblo people of the Southwest ; and thousands upon thousands of 
the various jars, bowls, urns, bottles, effigies, idols, etc., have been 
taken from its mounds and graves and are to be found in all the 
museums and many of the private collections of this country and 
Europe. 

The (i898-'99) Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology is 
devoted entirely to American prehistoric pottery. Several thousand 
specimens are illustrated. Prof. Wm. H. Holmes, the best posted 
man on pottery in the United States, wrote the monograph men- 
tioned, and we gladly commend it to students and collectors. 

Those not acquainted with the pottery of the Ohio Valley and 
Middle South should bear in mind that, it does not materially change 
until the mouth of the Wabash River, in southern Indiana, is 
reached. That is, descending the Ohio from Pittsburg and visiting 
all tributary streams, an archaeologist would find no southern forms 
until he arrived at the Wabash. A large cemetery was opened at 
the mouth of that river by a field assistant in the fall of '98 and 
several hundred specimens, almost identical with those of Arkansas 
and Missouri, were taken from the graves. To a certain extent, 
southern Illinois should be classed with the middle South, for its 
agricultural implements and pottery are quite similar to Tennessee, 
Arkansas and Missouri forms. But the interior of that state does 
not seem to have been inhabited by tribes skilled in the manufacture 
of pottery, effigy pipes, discoidals, engraved shells, and other objects 
common further down the Mississippi or up the Tennessee and the 
Cumberland. There are individual exceptions to this statement, but 
we are taking into consideration the general trend of archaeological 
testimony, and our conclusions are not swayed by the presence of a few 
foreign implements or utensils. By way of example ; obsidian has 



126 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



been found in Ohio mounds, yet we do not conclude that all of the 
Ohio tribes used obsidian. 

The prehistoric peoples in the northern part of the Middle 
South seem to have confined themselves to the large rivers. In 
southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas their pottery is found 
frequently along the bayous of the Mississippi 

Steatite, or soapstone dishes, bowls, etc., are sometimes found, 
but being more common in the extreme South, or along the Atlantic 
coast, a description of them will be deferred. 




fig. 112. s. 1-5. 



Fig. 112 shows 8 typical plain bottles and dishes from mounds 
in Missouri and Arkansas. There is an endless variety of the bottle 
form. We are indebted to the Missouri Historical Society for 
several of the following figures. 

Fig. 113. Effigy pottery, consisting of plain bowls and bottles 
surmounted by effigy heads. There is no attempt made at showing 
more than the head of the bird, animal or human. This class of 
pottery is common in the Middle South. 



POTTERY 



127 




FIG. II3. S. 1-5. 



Fig. 114. No. 1 is a plain jar of common form, having a short 
neck and a large body. No. 3 is a type between the jar form and 
the bottle proper. No. 4 is a bottle having an especially made base. 
This vase is common to the region, and will compare favorably with 
very early art in the Mediterranean countries. 




In the lower row No. 1 is decorated at the base ; No. 2 is plain, 
but has curious handles : No. 3 is both decorated and provided with 
handles, and No. 4 may be a toy. 



128 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



Fig. 115, presents five interesting vessels. No. 1 is a well made 
bottle or small jar decorated with painted spiral lines around the 
body and has a peculiar decoration upon its neck. Usually, the 
painting is in red. Sometimes the entire vessel is of red clay ; but 




fig. 115. s. 1-5. 



more frequently they are of a dark gray, brown or light gray. The 
red jars and bowls are highly prized among collectors. No. 2 is also 
painted. Doubtless the decorations on these had some ceremonial 
significance. No 3. is a tripod jar. No. 4, a fish. No. 5, a bowl 
surmounted by a deer's head on the one side, whereas the animal's 
curled tail forms a handle on the opposite side. 




FIG. Il6. S. ABOUT I-/- 



POTTERY 



129 



Fig. 116. Mound pottery from Mr. Thos. Beckwith's collection, 
Southwestern Mo. Found in southern Missouri near the Mississippi 
River. The new Madrid region is famous — thousands of vessels 
have been taken from its mounds. 

No. 1. A jug with the outline of a frog upon it, but surmounted 
by a human face. 

No. 2. A peculiar human-shaped bottle. The projection and 
perforations at the top doubtless indicate method of hair-dressing, or 
a certain headgear. 

No. 3. A bear standing on its hind legs with a bone in its 
mouth. 

No. 4. A red bottle resting upon the backs of three kneeling 
human figures. Two heads were missing when it was found. Effigies, 
3.718 inches high ; entire vessel, 9 inches high. 

No. 5. A red bottle resting upon three human figures in a 
squatting position. The arms are crossed. Effigies, 5 inches high ; 
entire vessel, 9 1-4 inches high. 




FIG. 117. S. I-3. 

Fig. 117. The left-hand specimen is an effigy bottle, the mouth 
being enlarged for the opening. In most of these bottles the mouth 



r 3 o 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



is in the back of the head. The right-hand specimen is a very large 
and grotesque bowl representing the human figure. The form is 
quite rare, for it portrays an abnormally fat person lying on his back. 
The legs are short and pig-like. The bottle-shaped effigies frequently 
show fat persons in a kneeling position. The former is in the col- 
lection of the Ohio State University ; the latter is in the possession 
of the Smithsonian Institution. 

We quote at length from the Twentieth (1898-9) Report of the 
Bureau of Ethnology (Washington) some of Prof. Holmes's remarks 
on pottery. As Professor Holmes refers to figures illustrating the 
types he explains, we have had to omit portions of his text. How- 
ever, our figures show most of these forms. 

Manner of Occurrence 

Since pottery was made very largely for use in the domestic arts, 
its remains are everywhere associated with household refuse, and 
are found on all village, house, camp, and food-producing sites 
occupied by pottery-making peoples. It is plentiful in the great 
shell heaps and shell mounds along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, 
and abounds in and around saline springs where salt was produced. 
Found under such conditions it is usually fragmentary, and to the 
superficial observer gives a very imperfect idea of the nature and 
scope of the art, but to the experienced student it affords a very 
satisfactory record. 

Nearly all peoples have at some period of their history adopted 
the practice of burying articles of use or value with their dead, and 
the aborigines of this country were no exception. It is to this 
mortuary usage that we owe the preservation of so many entire 
examples of fragile utensils of clay. They are exhumed from burial 
mounds in great numbers, and to an equal extent, in some regions, 
from common cemeteries and simple, unmarked graves. The rela- 
tion of various articles of pottery to the human remains with which 
they were associated in burial seems to have been quite varied. It 
is probable that the position of the vessel was to a certain extent 
determined by its office ; it may have contained food or drink for 
the dead, personal articles of value, or offerings to deities to be pro- 
pitiated, and custom or fancy dictated the position it should occupy ; 



POTTERY 



but it appears that in many cases the articles were cast in without 
regard to relative position or order. 

Pots 

There is a very large class of wide-mouthed vessels of pot-like 
character. They are generally darkened by use over fire, and more 
than any other form probably served as ordinary culinary utensils. 
The size varies from that of a drinking cup to that of a cauldron of 
15 or 20 gallons capacity. The frequent occurrence of strong 
handles confirms the theory of their use for boiling and handling 
food. The specimens illustrated are from Tennessee and Arkansas. 

The rims of these vessels were modified for decorative purposes 
very much as are the rims of the bowls. The bodies are sometimes 
elaborately ornamented, mostly with incised figures, but often with 
punctures, notes, and ribs. The incised lines, curved and straight, 
are arranged to form simple patterns encircling the upper part of the 
vessel. The punctures, made with a sharp point, form encircling 
lines and various carelessly executed patterns. A rude sort of orna- 
mentation was produced by pinching up the soft clay of the surface 
between the nails of the fingers and thumbs. Relief ornament con- 
sists chiefly of applied fillets of clay arranged to form vertical ribs. 
Rows of nodes are sometimes seen, and in a few cases the whole 
body is covered with rude nodes or spines. 

Life Forms 

Clay vessels imitating in form marine and fresh-water shells are 
occasionally obtained from the mounds and graves of the Mississippi 
Valley. The conch shell appears to have been a favorite model, 
especially as modified for a drinking cup by the removal of one side 
of the walls and all the interior parts. The clam shell is also 
imitated. The more conventional forms assumed by these vessels 
are especially interesting as illustrating the varied ways in which life 
forms modify the normal conventional shapes of vessels, thus widen- 
ing the range of the art. 

In many countries the shape of earthern vessels has been pro- 
foundly influenced by vegetable forms and especially by the hard 
shells of fruits. The gourd, the squash, and the cocoanut are repro- 



132 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



duced with great frequency. In many cases the shape of the body 
of vases not at once suggesting derivation from such forms may 
finally be traced to them. Thus the lobed bottles of Tennessee 
probably owe their chief characteristic to a lobed form of the gourd. 




FIG. I I S. S. T-2. CLIFF POTTERY FROM ARI. AND NEW MEX. RUINS. 

The animals imitated cover a wide range, including probably a 
large percentage of the more important creatures of the Mississippi 
Valley. The manner of applying forms to the vessel is also extremely 
varied, making a detailed account quite impossible. The degree of 
realism is far from uniform. In many cases birds, fishes, and quad- 
rupeds are modelled with such fidelity that a particular species is 
forcibly suggested, but the larger number of the imitations are rude 
and unsatisfactory. Many forms are grotesque, sometimes inten- 
tionally so. In Plate XX are several illustrations of the manner of 
applying bird forms to the elaboration and embellishment of bowls. 
Specimens a and b are from southeastern Missouri. The peculiar 
form of head seen in a is found all over the lower Mississippi and 
Gulf regions, while the example c has the head turned inward, and 



POTTERY 



133 



resembles a vulture or buzzard. In d two heads are attached, both 
grotesque, but having features suggestive of birds. A finely mod- 
elled and finished bird-shaped bottle is shown in e. It is finished in 
red, black, and white, the wings being striped with red and white. 
The heads in b and f appear to have human features, but it is not 
improbable that the conception was of a bird or at the most of a 
bird-man compound.* 

To discuss the pottery of New England, and the Iroquis coun- 
try, and Canada, would require more space than we can spare. 
It is much cruder than the specimens we have described. The 
Iroquois pottery can be distinguished from that of the upper Mis- 
souri ; the Canadian, from that of the Potomac and Connecticut 
Valleys. In fact, the pottery of widely separated areas has few 
common characteristics. But of localities near together, it is not so 
easy to distinguish the pottery of certain valleys. 




fig. 119. s. 1-6. 



* End of our quotation from Prof. Holmes. 



134 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



It must not be imagined that Fig. 119 portrays the average 
south-western pottery. Higher art in the ceramics did prevail there, 
but plain forms characterize most of the types. In Fig. 119 we 
have three large ollas and four small dishes from the adobe pueblo 
ruins near Phoenix, Ariz. In the foreground are mano stones — used 
for grinding corn on the metates. 




fig. 120. s. 1-2. 

BOWL FROM A CLIFF-RUIN IN THE RIO VERDE CANON, ARIZONA. 



POTTERY 



135 




" Form singular, being an accurate copy of a gourd split longi- 
tudinally. The pattern consists of parallel lines in two directions at 
right angles to each other. This arrangement of the lines suggests 
that the ornamentation is derived from some plaited object." From 
Nordenskiold's plate XXX. From a grave at Step House, South- 
western Colo. 



Chapter XVII 



Hematites and Copper Objects 

Although widely distributed, but little can be said as to the uses 
to which objects of hematite were put. An axe, a paint stone, and 
possibly a celt are readily understood, but what shall we say of the 
cone, plummet, and oval and egg-shaped forms ? MacLean, Foster 
and others speak of them as fishline or net sinkers; but surely we 
cannot conceive of their being put to such service. An ordinary 
notched pebble would serve better and could be more readily- 
replaced if lost. The term plummet is suggested by the form, but it 
is hardly true that they were used as such. Some one suggested 
that they were charm stones — carried by the shaman in his medicine 
sack. 




FIG. 122. S. I-J. FINE HEMATITE PLUMMET. 
FROM SOUTHERN ILLS. 



HEMATITES AND COPPER OBJECTS 137 

The first (8717) is a hematite celt, as are the next two. In the 
centre, three ungrooved oval-shaped objects. To the left, a hematite 
cup, which is quite unusual. 

A very few ornaments — perforated like those of slate — have 
been found. They are exceedingly rare. Axes, mostly small, are 
found in Missouri, Arkansas, and Illinois now and then ; but they 
are not a common type. In the Ohio Valley, while cones, egg- 
shaped, plummet and celt forms occur, there are no axes or orna- 
ments. In the extreme East, West, or South, there are found 
scarcely any hematites. 




FIG. I23. HEMATITE OBJECTS. 



Naturally, hematites divide themselves (on form) into eight 
classes : — 

The Celt, for cutting, scraping and smoothing ; 

The grooved axe, for hewing and cutting, pounding, etc. 

The cone, of which the use is unknown, but probably ceremonial. 

The Plummet, the egg-shaped, and the egg-shaped with flat- 
tened base, the perforated ornament for suspension ; and softer 
hematite ores, 'which were ground and made into paint. 



138 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



Back on page 77 (Fig. 68) we illustrated a bevelled celt, and the 
same cut will apply to many hematites. This type is somewhat un- 
usual, and is found in the Ohio and Missouri Valley. 

Fig. 122 is a fine plummet, shown full size ; a beauti- 
ful and graceful relic. No archaeologist can justly classify 
such a work of art (made of exceedingly hard material) as a mere 
net sinker. Surface hematite being found in larger fragments in 
Missouri and Arkansas accounts for the finding there of large 
grooved axes. They do not occur in other parts of the country, save 
where brought from a distance, and even such cases are exceedingly 
unusual. 




fig. 124. s. 1-3. 

HEMATITE PLUMMETS FROM THE OHIO VALLEY. 

As to the small celts, Mr. Fowke observes : — 

" These implements were probably used as knives or scrapers, 
being set into the end of a piece of antler, which may in turn have 
been set into a larger handle of wood. That some were knives is 
shown by the edge, which is dulled to a flat, polished surface, ex- 
tending from side to side ; and that many were scrapers is shown 
by their celt-scraper shape, a half elliptical section, or by their 
scraper form edge. Some, however, have the edge symmetrical, as 
in the hatchet celts.'' 



HEMATITES AND COPPER OBJECTS 



139 



Gen. G. P. Thruston says (referring to cones and plummets) : 
" They are too exact in form, and well finished, and most of them are 
too pointed for practical use as mullers. They also show no evidence 
of abrasion or grinding at the apices or points. The round top 
specimens are rare, and show no signs of rubbing. 

" Akin, perhaps, to these conoidal forms, are the hematite 
rectangles or segments. They are made of lustrous hematite, and 
are among the most beautiful of the specimens of polished ores. 
Some of them are pierced for hanging, others without holes." 

Dr. L. G. Yates, in a paper published in the Smithsonian Report 
for 1886 (pages 298-305, with four plates) reviews what had been 
printed up to that date on the plummets. He calls them charm 
stones. From old Indians he obtained this information : — 

" I obtained the words and translation of a song which refers 
to this subject. The metre and music are Schu-may (or chuma) ; 
the words are in the mish-khon-a-ka, or language of the Ventura 
Indians. It is called su-to-wen-cush. 

" Ka-yu-wa-will-le 

I am going to tell 

Le-le-ni-mu-stu-me-sip-posh 

Uneasy my heart ; 

Su-mus-il. Ka-teush-wen 

Charm stone. I have not. 

La-li-o-li-o-lwen-neu. 

I am sad." 

He concluded that the plummets were highly prized and relig- 
iously venerated ; that to some of the longer ones feathers were tied, 
and that they were placed in baskets and kept in the house of the 
shaman. 

Copper Objects 

As the South is famous for pottery, so is the St. Lawrence re- 
nowned for its copper. The ore ledges of the St. Lawrence region 
contained surface veins of almost pure copper. Hundreds of pits 
were sunk and mining operations carried on in no insignificant 
manner. The metal from Lake Superior reached Maine on the east, 
Kansas to the west, and Florida to the south.* It was more exten- 

*"As to Copper from the Mounds of the St. John's River." Clarence B. 
Moore. Journal of Academy of A T atural Sciences of Philadelfhia, Vol. X, 94. 



140 PREHISTORIC REIICS 

sively used than mica, galena, or other foreign substances. Se 
shells may be expected but even in them the traffic was, accordin 
to our own observations, less extensive. 




ftg. 125. s. 2-7. 

COPPER KNIVES FROM WISCONSIN. H. P. HAMILTON COLLECTION. 

This is a very fine group of some thirty-six copper knives. 



HEMATITES AND COPPER OBJECTS 



141 



It is unfortunate that all Mr. Hamilton's " coppers " cannot be 
shown in this book. He has one of the best collections ever made. 




fig. 126. s. 2-7. 

H. P. HAMILTON COLLECTION, WISCONSIN. 



/ 



142 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



Nos. i to 7 — Cache ofjcopper implements found at Oconto, Wis- 
consin. No. i is the only specimen of the kind known in copper 
with one exception and this was also found on the same spot. 

Nos. 2 and 3 — Are small copper arrows. 

No. 4 — Largest Mr. Hamilton has any record of. 

No. 5 — Unusual form of knife or sword. 

No. 6 — Chisel with battered head. 

No. 7 — Leaf-shaped blade. 

Nos. 8, 10 and 12 — Copper spuds. 

No. 9 — Small unusual pointed spud or chisel. 

No. 11 — Winged chisel. 

The authorities are many, but quotations from two must suffice, 
"[Copper, too, in various shapes, was in high favor among them; 
as aside*from its use as ornament and as a mark of authority, it had 
among certain tribes a sort of religious character or significance. 
In Wisconsin, for instance, in the heart of the copper-bearing region 
it was not unusual to find pieces of fifteen or twenty pounds weight 
that had been preserved in families, from time immemorial, and 
were venerated as domestic gods ; whilst the smaller pieces were 
looked upon as the possessions of the divinities that lived under the 
earth and as the playthings of the children.'' * 

An article of merit by Mr. R. L. Packard was published in the 
American Antiquarian in March, '93. Mr. Packard had investigated 
pits and says : 

" 1 At one point I found a handsome specimen of quartz and 
copper laid up carefully in a niche. It weighed several pounds. 
As injother cases, we had proof that the ancient miner did not sink 
any shafts and do real mining. He was only a surface gleaner.' 

" Of the ancient workings on Isle Royale, on the north shore of 
the lake, which were very extensive and have been described as ex- 
tending twenty feet and more in the solid rock, Mr. Forster says : 
" ' As I understand it, these extensive works were upon a high out- 
crop, promising natural drainage. And I should infer from what I 
heard from Mr. A. C. Davis, the agent, and others who opened the 
Mining mine that the ancient workings were among disturbed shat- 
tered rocks, among which were found much mass copper and barrel 

* Dress and Ornaments of Certain American Indians. By Lucien Carr. 
Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, April, 1897. P. 66. 



HEMATITES AND COPPER OBJECTS 



43 



work. The ancients were after these pieces of copper. Mr. Davis 
found many considerable masses, handled and beaten by the an- 
cient men, which were too large for them to carry away." 




FIG. I27. S. 2-7. 



COPPER CHISELS FROM WISCONSIN. H. P. HAMILTON COLLECTION. 



144 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



Mr. Hamilton says that the middle celt is bevelled evenly from 
a central ridge in both directions and considers it the finest speci- 
men he has ever seen. It is 14 5-8 inches long and weighs 5 3-4 
pounds. The great copper axe found in the Hopewell mound was 
22 inches long by about 6 inches wide and weighed nearly 38 pounds. 




fig. 128. s. 1-4. 

COPPER CRESCENTS, BEADS AND ORNAMENTS. 



HEMATITES AND COPPER OBJECTS 



H5 



Several of these appear to be hairpins or head ornaments. We 
do not know the use of most of them as we have never seen anything 
exactly like this form. Copper beads, such as are shown in the 
strand, are found generally through the United States and are not 
rare. The crescents are occasionally found. The other five objects 
are quite unique. 

This copper was highly prized by the natives and was carried 
by them down the streams and tributaries of the Mississippi and 
Ohio and transported even to Florida. Recently two valuable papers 
entitled " The Native Copper Implements of Wisconsin," by Charles 
E. Brown, Wisconsin Archaeologist, January and April numbers, 1904, 
have appeared and we advise readers to consult them. When copper 
reached the regions where the mound building tribes lived, it was 
not devoted exclusively to ordinary purposes. On the contrary, it 
was regarded as of more or less ceremonial or religious significance. 
That is, it was too rare and valuable to be used for such purposes, 
and so it was fashioned into ear-rings, necklaces, spools, wrist bands, 
etc. It was cut into swastika crosses, cosmic symbols and other 
symbolic or religious designs. Great quantities of copper fashioned 
into these forms have been found by Professor Putnam in the Ohio 
mounds, by Smithsonian agents in Illinois, and by Mr. Moorehead 
at the Hopewell group, Ross County, Ohio. 

Collectors will do well to visit the American Museum of Natural 
History, New York ; Peabody Museum, Harvard ; Field Columbian 
Museum at Chicago ; Milwaukee Public Museum, and the State 
Museum at Columbus, Ohio, and see these interesting copper speci- 
mens. We might remark in passing that we could devote this entire 
book to copper artifacts alone, and it is both unsatisfactory and re- 
grettable that the subject must be dismissed with so few words. If 
collectors will read the literature named, they will become well 
posted on this interesting division of Prehistoric Archaeology. 

Fig 129. Most of these are " socket" spears with ribbed backs. 
The central spear of battered copper and No. 2 are unusual, having 
rolled sockets. They are quite massive. Mr. Hamilton says that 
No. 2 is the rarest form of copper spear. Only three or four have 
been found, just enough to establish the type. No. 2 has parallel 
lines along both sides of the blade and is very regular and also has 
peculiar corrugations. 



146 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




FIG. 129. S. I-4. 



COPPER SPEAR-HEADS, WISCONSIN. H. P. HAMILTON COLLECTION. 



HEMATITES AND COPPER OBJECTS 




FIG. 131. S. 1-1. 



148 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



Fig 131. This was found in 111. by Dr. J. F. Snyder, and described 
by him in the American Archaeologist. It is a plain ear or hand or- 
nament, and common in the mounds throughout the Ohio and Upper 
Mississippi Valleys. It is almost exclusively found in the mounds. 
Three or four thousand of them were taken out of the altars in the 
Turner and Hopewell mounds. 

This entire pamphlet could be devoted to copper, so exhaustive 
is the subject. It is with regret that we are enabled to give it no 
more space. 



Chapter XVIII 



Unclassified and Unique Specimens 



In the beginning of this little work we divided all the imple- 
ments, ornaments, utensils, etc., into two grand divisions, the Known 
and the Unknown. By far the greater number of prehistoric objects 
are embodied in the term Unknown. Field archaeologists and 
museum curators are hard at work trying to decipher some of the 
enigmas. It is beyond the scope of this pamphlet to enter into 
discussion, but it may be well to call attention to a few of these 
interesting oddities. Fig. 132 presents 11 bird stones, more or less 
alike, and yet, when studied in detail, they show differences. 



1 



2' 




4 




r 



9 



10 



FIG 132. S. I-3. IND., OHIO, MICH., AND CANADA. 



150 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




ANOTHER KIND OF BIRD-STONE. 
FIG. 133. GREEN PORPHYRY, FOUND NEAR OAK HILL, N. J. 



Fig. 133 is yet another of the so-called bird-stones. This 
singular relic is usually composed of banded slate and shale and 
is found throughout the Ohio Valley, Eastern Canada, New York 
State. South of the Ohio River very few of the bird-stones occur. 
Many theories have been advanced, one of which is that it was worn 
on the head by young women of quality of marriageable age. The 
late Prof. Cushing had a theory that bird-stones were mounted on 
little slate tablets, as each bird-stone has two perforations. The 
winged bird-stone, such as Fig. 133, are often made in granite 
and porphyry. 



UNCLASSIFIED AND UNIQUE SPECIMENS 



The process of manufacture must needs be long and tedious, 
and doubtless these things played a prominent part in the ceremonies 
enacted in pre-Columbian times. 

There is another object widespread throughout the United States 
in the form shown in Fig. 134. It has been called by a very common- 
place name — "The Stone Spud ". 




FIG. I34. FROM THE SOUTH. 



But Mr. Clarence B. Moore, who illustrates and describes a num- 
ber of these objects in the American Anthropologist for July and Sep- 
tember, 1903, calls it "The Hoe-shaped Implement"; a better 
term. In the Wisconsin Archaeologist for October, 1902, Mr. Charles 
E. Brown divides these hoes or spuds into classes, A, B, and C. 
Our illustration 134 would come under his class C. 

Mr. Moore seems to conclude that these are ceremonial axes. 
The edges of few of them show wear from use, and they hardly are 
tools. 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 





FIG. I35. S. 1-2. 
TYPTCAL "CEREMONIAL HOE " FROM THE SOUTH. 



UNCLASSIFIED AND UNIQUE OBJECTS 



53 



Fig. 136 shows 19 stone objects from the Salado Valley, Southern 
Arizona. The four fine axes at the top explain themselves. Of 
the other objects but little can be said. The stone rings, the double 
rings, and the curious perforated stones on the lower shelf defy 
attempts to explain the purpose of their manufacture. 




il 





FIG. 136. S. I-9. 



x 54 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




Found on the banks of the Muskingum river, near Marietta, 
Ohio, in 1887. 



UNCLASSIFIED AND UNIQUE SUBJECTS 



*55 




FIG. 138. S. I-I. 



An unknown effigy from northern Indiana, 
tion. It is more turtle than bird-shaped. 



Gruhlke's collec- 



1 5 6 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 




FIG. 139. S. 

A very curious and fine bird amulet from the Seneca river? 
N. Y. The ears project to an unusual extent, and the forward per- 
foration is not entirely closed. 



FIG. I40. S. I-I. 

A remarkable bird-stone or effigy, to the right of which is an 



UNCLASSIFIED AND UNIQUE OBJECTS 157 

axe, and to the left a perforated ceremonial. This effigy has no 
body and is doubtless a connecting link between a general effigy 
type and the bird or saddle form proper. 




fig. 141. s. 1-2. 

SLATE OBJECT. USE UNKNOWN. MR. HAMILTON'S COLLECTION. 




J 



FIG. I42. S., ABOUT 2-3 FOR CRESCENT, AND I-4 FOR OTHERS. 

These four specimens were found in Clark County, Indiana. 
The collection of Dr. W. F. Work. No. i is made of green slate 
slightly banded, and is very perfect in contour and highly polished. 
The concaved surface below will fit the forehead or crown. 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



158 



No. 2 may be a pipe, although by blowing through the large 
end a loud sound is produced. It is about 4 inches long and 1 1-2 
inches in diameter. The hole through the long axis is half an inch 
wide. It tapers gradually until it is but 1-4 of an inch in diameter at 
the distal extremity. There is a slight attempt at ornameniation. 

Through No. 4 a hole 1-2 inch in diameter and slightly tapering 
passes. 

It will be noted that these several figures show types from widely 
separated portions of the United States. They emphasize that 
different tribes used not only the local materials, which were differ- 
ent from local stones in other sections, but that the art conceptions 
of the one people were totally different from those of another. Thus 
we do not find the bird-stone in Arizona, nor stone rings in New r 
York State, or the hoe-shaped ceremonials in Washington and Oregon. 

A brief mention of the many other kinds of specimens must 
suffice. There are club-heads, sandal-lasts, fish-hooks, mica orna- 
ments, shell cups, rubbing stones, etc. Speaking of fish-hooks 
brings to mind the net sinkers ; so common east, but rare west of 
the Alleghanies. 

These implements are found on the banks of rivers, large creeks, 
and lakes where nets were used in taking fish. They are generally 
flat water-worn stones of different sizes and various forms, tending, 
however, almost always to the oval in shape. They have notches 
artificially worked into their sides opposite each other by a few 
simple blows, and are correctly termed " net sinkers." They vary in 
weight from an ounce to ten ounces, and once in a while are found 
weighing from a pound to more than fifteen pounds.* Mr. T. M. M. 
Gernard, of Muncy, Pa., owns a very fine collection of them and has 
published some very interesting papers on archaeologic subjects. 
The frequency of sinkers in this vicinity, says Dr. Rau, f indicates 
that the Indians were much engaged in fishing at this point (Susque- 
hanna river). 

The sinkers found in Pennsylvania are almost exclusively made 
from the material called graywacke which belongs to the geological 

* Mr. Nat. E. Booth, of Southold, Long Island, reports a grooved sinker or 
anchor from that vicinity weighing fifteen and one-half pounds. It is flat on one 
side and slightly convex on the other. The groove completely encircles the upper 
part of the implement. Its shape is similar to a plummet. 

t Prehistoric Fishing, p. 157-59. 



UNCLASSIFIED AND UNIQUE OBJECTS 159 



formation whereon is situated Muncy. The longest specimen shown 
by Dr. Rau is a flat stone of irregular outline, eight inches wide across 
the broadest part, and one and three-eighths inches thick in the middle. 
It weighs two pounds and fourteen ounces. It may have served for 
weighing a set-net. From this region have been taken many sinkers 
weighing from one-half ounce upward. These small and light speci- 
mens were no doubt used in connection with hook and line. 




fig. 143. s. 1-1. 



This was found on a village site 1-2 mile from Lowell, Ohio. 
Material, greenish-gray, banded slate. 



i6o 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



This ceremonial is very rare. It has a slight groove at the top 
and a transverse groove about an inch below. The perpendicular 
groove intersects the horizontal one. 

The edge is sharp and gracefully rounded. The stone is beauti- 
fully banded or seamed and shows various shades of green and gray. 
It is brought to the highest perfection of finish or polish. 

Why was such an object made ? For what purpose was it used ? 
The word " ceremonial" carries no significance and does not explain 
away the mystery. Here is another opportunity for the archaeo- 
logical wisemen of our great museums ! 



Fig. 144 A bar amulet from Waterloo County, Ontario. More 
of these are found in New York and Ohio than elsewhere. They 
vary from a straight bar to the bird-stone ceremonial form. 



Fig. 145. Bird-stone ceremonial from Oxford County, On- 
tario. A very beautiful specimen of banded slate. Supposed to 
have been worn on the head. 

In conclusion there remains to be added a few words of advice 
to collectors. As to the detection of counterfeit relics, there is no 
hard and fast law or rule. In case of doubt, visit the nearest 
museum or seek out a more experienced student of archaeology than 
yourself, and show him the specimen. The form can be counter- 




fig. 144. s. 1-2. 




FIG. T45. S. 1-2. 



UNCLASSIFIED AND UNIQUE OBJECTS 161 

feited, but that which cannot be explained — the looks, or the ap- 
pearance or genuineness — defies the counterfeiter. A genuine 
specimen looks old, it is covered with patina, etc. A fraud never 
looks old. 




FIG. 146. S. I-I 



Frauds. Made by re-chipping spear-heads or knives. These 
were obtained near Flag Pond, Va. Collectors should never purchase 
or exchange for specimens of this sort. 

Archaeological cabinets should be made for study or as a pas- 
time. For any other purpose, collections should not be made. 

For the local student who collects for his own pleasure, we 
should have nothing but commendation, for at some future date his 
cabinet may be preserved. His expenditures, his trips to favorite 
localities that he may personally roam over freshly ploughed fields, 
his hours spent in arranging his cabinet during winter evenings are 
labors born of love. He knows his region and takes satisfaction in 
that knowledge. He places no fictitious value on his cabinet. That 
there is no such a thing as an arbitrary value on a pipe, tube or jar 
he is aware. He wishes to have his cabinet preserved, not scattered, 
and when he dies, it will be of real value to future generations. 



PREHISTORIC RELICS 



Not so the commercial collector. When out " exploring " this 
person cares not for the attractiveness of his surroundings. Neither 
the songs of the birds nor the freshness of advancing spring appeal 
to him. If he be out in August he heeds not the broad acres heavy 
with fragrant clover. Nature is nothing to such a person. He 
is bad enough, but the man who demolishes mounds or cliff houses 
in order that he may sell the specimens found therein is worse. 
The latter is too lazy to work, and ekes out a miserable existence by 
selling the " relics " of a vanished people to such as may buy. 

The specimens are gradually drifting to the permanent museums. 
Every year sees new museums founded. Each season an increasing 
proportion of archaeological cabinets finds its way into permanent 
quarters in fire-proof buildings, and there these things can be studied 
and protected. The collector, who faithfully preserves with correct 
data the material discovered in his neighborhood, enjoys through 
many years his archaeologic pursuits, and when he is through with 
his collection presents it to a worthy institution, renders science a 
service and perpetuates his own name. 



Bibliography 

Aboriginal Chipped Stone Implements of New York. William 

M. Beauchamp. 1897. 
Aboriginal Occupation of New York. W. M. Beauchamp. 1900. 
American Archaeology, Introduction to the Study of. Prof. 

Cyrus Thomas. 1899. 
Antiquities of Tennessee. Gen. G. P. Thurston. 1896. 
Antiquities of the Southern Indians. C. C. Jones. 
Ancient Monuments, Mississippi Valley, Smithsonian Institution, 

Washington. 1847. 
Archaeology of Lytton, B. C. Harlan I. Smith. 1899. 
Archaeological Reports of the Minister of Education, (Ontario). 

David Boyle. 1894 to the present. 
Archaeological History of Ohio. Gerard Fowke. Columbus. 1903. 

Bird-Stone Ceremonials, The. W. K. Moorehead. 

Burial Customs of the Hurons; Bureau of Ethnology Report. '83-84. 

Charm Stones (so-called "Plummets" or "Sinkers"). Lorenzo G.Yates, 

Santa Barbara. 1890. 
Cliff-Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, Colorado. G. Nordenskiold, 

Stockholm. 1892. 

Earthernware of the New York Aborigines. W. M. Beauchamp, 
1898. 



Germ of Shoreland Pottery. F. H. Cushing. Report of Congress of 
Anthropology. '93. 



164 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Horn and Bone Implements. W. M. Beauchamp. 1902. 

History of Virginia, The. In four parts. London. 1872. 



Indian Tribes of the United States. H. R. Schoolcraft. Wash- 
ington. 1847. 

Methods of Manufacture of the Ollas, Mortars and Pipes. 

Paul Schumacher, Eleventh Annual Report, Peabody Museum. 
Mound Explorations in Florida, Various Reports on, by Mr. C. B. 

Moore. 

Native Races of the Pacific States. H. H. Bancroft. 
North American Indians. George Catlin. 

North Pacific Expedition. American Museum Natural History. 
Our Wild Indians. Col. R. I. Dodge. 

Picture Writing of the American Indians. Garrick Mallery. 
Bureau of Ethnology Report. 1888-1889. 

Pipes and Smoking Customs. Joseph D. McGuire. Smithsonian Re- 
port. 1897. 

Polished Stone Articles Used by the New York Aborigines. 
William M. Beauchamp. 

Prehistoric Art ; Or the Origin of Art as Manifested in the 
Works of Prehistoric Man. Thomas Wilson. Smith- 
sonian Report. 1896. 

Prehistoric Man in California. Lorenzo G. Yates. Santa Barbara, 
Cal. 1887. 

Prehistoric Textile Art of the Eastern United States. An- 
cient Pottery of the Mississippi Valley, also Art 
in Shell. Prof. W. H. Holmes. Bureau of Ethnology Re- 
ports. 1891-251892-3. 

Prehistoric Implements. W. K. Moorehead. 

Primitive Industry. Dr. C. C. Abbott. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 165 

Quivira, by Hon. J. B. Brower, St. Paul, 1898. Harahey, by the same 
author, St. Paul, 1899. Both under the general title ; Memoirs 
of Exploration in the Basin of the Mississippi. 

Reports of Peabody Museum. 

" " Smithsonian Institution. 

" " Bureau of American Ethnology. 

" " Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. 

Stone Art. Gerard Fowke. Bureau of Ethnology Report. 1890-91. 
Stone Age, The, W. K. Moorehead (in preparation) 

Wampum and Shell Articles. W. M. Beauchamp. 1901. 

And complete files of : — 

American Anthropologist, The 1897 to the present. 

American Antiquarian, The 1876 " " " 

Archaeologist, The 1893 to 1896. 

American Archaeologist, The 1897 to 1899 

Records of the Past 1900 to the present. 

Wisconsin Archaeologist, The 1901 " " " 



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